Advent / Christmas / Epiphany December 1, 2019, Advent—February 23, 2020, the Last Sunday After the Epiphany

Seasonal Journal

Advent / Christmas / Epiphany December 1, 2019, Advent—February 23, 2020, The Last Sunday After the Epiphany

Ethiopian Image of The Magis’ Visit

Grace and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Colorado Springs, CO Mission: To accept God’s grace and bear witness to His grace in the world

Table of Contents

3 Editor’s Note by Joan Ray 4 The Liturgical Seasons by Joan Ray 6 “Cast away the works of darkness”: A Meditation on an Advent Collect by The Rev. Scott Gunn 8 “LENT MADNESS” 9 “Rejoice!” An Advent Sermon by The Rev. Elizabeth Randall 12 “Get on Board, Little Children” by The Very Rev. Dr. Kelly Douglas Brown 17 The Jesus Movement 18 The Life of the Beloved St. Anna by The Rev. Jill Honodel 23 History of Deacons, Deaconesses: The Marginalized Serving the Marginalized by Joan Ray 25 “Grace upon Grace” by Clelia deMoraes, Co-Chair, GSS Centennial Visioning Committee 25 Editor’s Note: GSS History 27 A Tale of Transformation by Don Simpson 29 The Power of the Word by The Rev. James Harlan 31 For Love’s Sake by The Rt. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, Bishop of the Diocese of Washington 33 A Williamson Family Christmas by The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson 35 George Herbert’s “A Wreath”: A Poet’s Personal Epiphany About Being Too Clever for His Own Good by Joan Ray 41 Epiphany: The Awkward Holiday by Pastor Jen Williamson 42 The Baptism of our Lord by The Rev. Robertson (Rob) Carr Donehue

Back Cover: Grace by Ronnie Lee Graham

learn at http://www.ronnieleegraham.com) Editor: Joan Klingel Ray Editorial Assistant: Cindy Page Layout and Design: Max Pearson

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The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson, Rector The Rev. Dr. Vaughan Durkee McTernan and The Rev. Brendan Williamson, CSJC, Assisting Priests Pastor Jennifer Williamson, Youth Minister

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Editor’s note by Joan Ray about the Liturgical Seasons, including the history With the beginning of a new church year on of the Advent wreath. The Rev. Scott Gunn, December 1st, this issue of the Seasonal Journal Executive Director of Forward Movement, provides reflects some new beginnings and firsts. The Very a thoughtful meditation about Advent, which he Rev. Kelly Douglas Brown, Dean of the Episcopal first presented at the beautiful gothic-styled St. Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary, Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Providence RI, NYC, kindly provided her inspiring sermon which I attended while in graduate school at Brown. delivered at the consecration of The Rev. Kym The Rev. Elizabeth Randall, rector of St. Andrew’s Lucas as not only the first female Bishop of Episcopal Church in Denver, reminds us in a Colorado, but also the first African American sermon delivered on the third Sunday of Advent Bishop of Colorado. And speaking of firsts: last that as we anticipate the coming of Jesus Christ, we spring, two churches in California merged as St. must rejoice, for “God is near.” Because wreaths Anna’s Episcopal Church in Antioch, becoming the abound at both Advent and Christmas, I offer an first Episcopal Church named for an African explication of poet-priest George Herbert’s “A American, Anna Alexander, the first African Wreath,” treating it as text that enlightens the poet American deaconess in the Episcopal Church. The and reader about what honoring God really means. Church’s General Convention in July 2018 voted to add Deaconess Anna to the Episcopal Church’s I recalled The Rev. James Harlan’s Calendar of Saints with a feast day of September Christmas Eve sermon of 2017, in which he 24th, the day of her death in 1947. To complement preached about “the power of words” with Mr. and the story of the first African American deaconess, Mrs. Trump in the pews, after listening to Father now a Saint, we offer a brief history of early Jeremiah’s sermon of October 13, when he Episcopal deacons and deaconesses. preached about the toxic communication that is sadly prevalent today. Farther Harlan reminds us Like St. Anna’s, Grace and St. Stephen’s about “the Word” and words. When I contacted Episcopal Church is the result of the merging of two Father Harlan, he generously gave permission to Episcopal churches: Grace and St. Stephen’s, in reprint his meaningful sermon. Likewise, The Rt. 1923. Looking toward our 100th anniversary, Rev. Marian Edgar Budde, Bishop of Washington, parishioner Clelia deMoraes, co-chair of the GSS immediately agreed to our reprinting her Christmas Centennial Vision Committee, discusses how our Eve sermon that reminds us that Jesus came to us iconic building, with its magnificent organ and “for Love’s sake.” Our Father Jeremiah offers stained-glass windows, expresses God’s grace. delightful family memories of Christmas past and Parishioner Don Simpson shares how he Christmas present. experienced God’s transforming grace in a hospital room while recuperating from a stroke. Parishioner After the carols, lights, and feasts of Christmas, Ronnie Lee Graham’s thoughts about “grace” grace Pastor Jen takes us to Epiphany, “The Awkward our back cover. Holiday.” Finally, The Rev. Robb Donehue’s sermon about the baptism of our Lord deals with the Because the journal treats Advent, question, “Why would Christ, himself, whom the Christmas, and Epiphany, we include information church believes is sinless, need to be baptized?”

The Liturgical Seasons History of the Advent Wreath is provided by Rev. Fleming Rutledge (1937-), a graduate of Union As we have observed in previous issues of our Theological Seminary and one of the first women church’s Seasonal Journal, the Episcopal Church’s ordained as an Episcopal Priest (1977). She spent liturgical year is divided into seasons. This issue over twenty years in parish ministry and has treats Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. With the travelled internationally as a lector, preacher, and exception of the History of the Advent Wreath and teacher of preaching. She is an award-winning the liturgical colors, all information is taken directly author, and in her book Advent: The Once and from Don S. Armentrout and Robert Boak Slocum, Future Coming of Jesus Christ (Grand Rapids, eds., An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church. NY: Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Church Publishing, 1999; page numbers in Company, 2018), she reminds us that “the Advent parentheses refer to this Dictionary. Information on wreath originated in the middle of the nineteenth the liturgical colors is taken from The Episcopal century as a custom in small Protestant Church website communities in northern Germany.” She states the https://www.episcopalchurch.org/liturgical-colors wreath was “unknown in the Episcopal Church of my childhood, but it had become ubiquitous by Advent is the first season of the church year, 1970.” Because I examined her Advent book on beginning with the fourth Sunday before Christmas line at Google Books, I have no page number and continuing through the day before Christmas, citations. [Retrieved 10. 18.2019 the word Advent is derived from a Latin word for https://books.google.com/books?id=lOF0DwAAQB “coming.” The season is a time of preparation and AJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Advent:+The+Once+ expectation for the coming celebration of our Lord's and+Future+Coming+of+Jesus+Christ&hl=en&new nativity, and for the final coming of Christ “in bks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiW power and glory” (3). The liturgical color for iYXc5q3lAhVCqJ4KHQfCArIQuwUwAHoECAY Advent is purple / violet or royal blue. Blue is the QBQ#v=onepage&q=%E2%80%9Cthe%20Advent color associated with Mary, with whom we await %20wreath%20originated%20in%20the%20middle the birth of Jesus Christ. Blue is a color of hope and %20of%20the%20nineteenth%20century%20as%2 anticipation, both attributes of Advent. On 0a%20custom%20in%20small%20Protestant%20co December 1st, 2019, the Lectionary readings begin mmunities%20in%20northern%20Germany&f=fals to follow Year (cycle) A: Year A begins on the first e]. Fleming cites the following scholarly source for Sunday of Advent in a year evenly divisible by 3. additional history of the Advent Wreath: Mary Jane The Lectionary has a three-year cycle, referred to as Haemig, “The Origin and Spread of the Advent years A, B, and C. So on the first Sunday of Advent Wreath,” Lutheran Quarterly, 19 (2005): 332-343. (November 29th) in 2020, the Lectionary readings Professor Haemig’s thorough archival research led will be for year B as we will begin a new cycle. to her concluding that Johann Heinrich Wichern An Advent Wreath is a circle of greenery, marked (1808-1881), a prominent German theologian and by four candles that represent the four Sundays of head of the Rauhes Haus (i.e., Rough House), a the season of Advent. An additional candle is lit as charitable school outside Hamburg dedicated to each new Sunday is celebrated in Advent. Advent serving orphans, created the first advent candle wreaths are used both in churches and in homes for arrangement (but not a wreath) in 1839, with the devotional purposes. The candles may be blue, greenery added in 1860. By 1930, German purple, or lavender, depending on local custom. Protestants, especially those of the upper class, Some Advent wreaths include a white candle in the appear to be the sole users of Advent Wreaths. As center known as the "Christ Candle," which is lit on Dr. Haemig convincingly speculates, had Advent Christmas Eve (3). wreaths been an ancient tradition, Roman Catholics 4 would have been familiar with them earlier than just days, from Christmas Day until Jan. 5, the day after 1945, when the Catholic Church first used before the Epiphany. The season includes Christmas Advent Wreaths. Examining the arrival of the Day, the First Sunday after Christmas Day, the Holy Advent Wreath in the US, Haemig discovered that it Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and may include was proposed as a new item in 1939 in the Lutheran the Second Sunday after Christmas Day. In many Standard magazine. Professor Haemig suggests that parishes, the main liturgical celebrations of the wreath transferred from home to church Christmas take place on Christmas Eve. The Book sanctuary in the late 1950’s; she then discusses the of Occasional Services includes a variety of colors and significance of the candles, which are resources for use during Christmas, including a clearly not fixed. Her evidence suggests two points: form for a Station at a Christmas Crèche, a form for an assimilation to liturgical colors, and an a Christmas Festival of Lessons and Music, and identification of the candles with the lectionary seasonal blessings for use during the Christmas themes of the four advent Sundays. The first of season (93). The liturgical color for Christmas is these led to the introduction of the rose/pink candle white. for Gaudete among the purple/violet set: the third Sunday of Advent is called Gaudete Sunday. The Epiphany in everyday language suggests an “Aha!” term is derived from the Latin opening words of the moment of sudden realization. In the Church, the introit antiphon, “Rejoice (Gaudete) in the Lord Epiphany is the manifestation of Christ to the always.” The theme of the day expresses the joy of peoples of the earth. The winter solstice was kept on anticipation at the approach of the Christmas Jan. 6 at some places during the first centuries of celebration. This theme reflects a lightening of the the Christian Era. In opposition to pagan festivals, tone of the traditional Advent observance. In some Christians chose this day to celebrate the various parishes that use violet as the color for Advent, the manifestations, or "epiphanies," of Jesus’ divinity. vestments and hangings for Gaudete Sunday will be These showings of his divinity included his birth, changed to rose or pink for one day only. For this the coming of the Magi, his baptism, and the reason, this Sunday is sometimes also known as Wedding at Cana where he miraculously changed “Rose Sunday.” Many churches and individuals water into wine. The day was called “The Feast of include a pink candle among the four candles of an Lights.” Celebration of the Son of God replaced Advent wreath. It is always the third of the four lit. celebration of the sun. Baptisms were performed, Gaudete Sunday is a time to think about what it and a season of preparation was instituted. It was means to “rejoice in the Lord” and how to live into later called Advent. The solstice was kept on Dec. the peace that guards our hearts and minds in Christ. 25 by the fourth century. Jesus’ birth was celebrated (Philippians 4:4-5a: “Rejoice in the Lord always; on this day in both eastern and western churches. again, I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be The western church commemorated the coming of known to everyone.”) The second point relates to the Magi on Jan. 6. The eastern church continued to the identification of the fourth candle with the celebrate the Baptism of our Lord and the Wedding Virgin Mary. Mary Jane Haemig is Professor at Cana on Jan. 6. In the east the day was called Emeritus of Church History at Luther Seminary in "Theophany" (manifestation of God). The coming St. Paul, MN. Dr. Haemig holds a Master of of the Magi is celebrated on the Feast of the Theological Studies and Doctorate in Theology Epiphany, Jan. 6, in the BCP. The Baptism of our from Harvard Divinity School. Lord is celebrated on the First Sunday after the Epiphany (170). The liturgical color for Epiphany is Christmas, as defined in the Book of Common green, which we have used as the color for the Prayer, is one of the seven principal feasts in the cover of this issue of the Seasonal Journal. church year. The Christmas season lasts twelve

Editor’s Note: The Rev. Canon Scott Gunn, an Episcopal Priest, first came to my attention during Lent 2019, when I participated online in “Lent Madness,” the brainchild of the Rev. Tim Schenck, who kindly contributed his sermon, “Leap of Faith,” for our Seasonal Journal’s Pentecost issue. Tim and Scott call themselves the “Supreme Executive Committee” for “Lent Madness.” Scott + calls himself “a geek of both the church and technology.” An Iowan by birth, he earned his B.A. at Iowa’s Luther College, his MA in History from Brown (go Bruno!), his MA in Religion and MA in Divinity from Yale University Divinity School, and a Certificate in Anglican Studies from Berkeley Divinity School (Yale). He served as Rector of Christ Church in Lincoln, RI, until July 2011, when he became Executive Director of Forward Movement (headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio), publisher of Forward Day by Day, available at GSS, as well as pamphlets and books about spirituality and the Episcopal Church. But rather than seeing Forward Movement as merely a publishing enterprise, Father Scott describes its mission as “inspiring disciples and empowering evangelists.” He is a Deputy to the General Convention on behalf of the diocese of Southern Ohio; previously, he served in the same capacity for the diocese of RI. He has many other titles and positions within the Church that you can research online. Prior to becoming an ordained priest, he worked in the technology area for The Atlantic Monthly & Fast Company, MIT Media Lab, and Educational Development Center. He and his wife, the Rev. Sherilyn Pearce, also an Episcopal priest, have a dog, George (named for 17th-century poet and priest, George Herbert, your Seasonal Journal editor’s favorite religious poet, and winner of the first Golden Halo in the “Lent Madness” competition: for more about “Lent Madness,” see the end of this text). With the Rev. Melody Shobe, he has co-authored two books, Faithful Questions: Exploring the Way with Jesus and Walk in Love: Episcopal Beliefs and Practices. If you Google Rev. Scott Gunn, you can read his blog; Scott has an active online theological presence. This is sometimes known as the Advent “Cast away the works of darkness”: collect, and until our current prayer book, it was to A Meditation on an Advent Collect be used every day of Advent. Some of us may use it by The Rev. Canon Scott Gunn devotionally each day or even in corporate worship (This is the First of Three Meditations on Advent that Father through the season. This is fitting. In so many ways, Scott offered at St. Stephen’s Church in Providence, RI. Your this collect perfectly captures Advent — both our journal editor attended this church during her graduate student recollection of the First Advent of Christ in humility years at Brown University, which makes Scott’s meditation and our hope for the Second Advent of Christ in especially meaningful for her.) glory. The lovely cadences we pray in this collect The Collect for the First Sunday of Advent: are more or less Cranmer’s work. Composed for the 1549 prayer book, the collect has been revised Almighty God, give us grace that we several times in subsequent centuries.1 But our may cast away the works of current version is close to the original.2 Cranmer darkness, and put upon us the armor obviously borrowed from the Letter to the Romans. of light, now in the time of this In the 13th chapter, beginning at the 11th verse, we mortal life in which thy Son Jesus read: Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when You know what hour it is, how it is he shall come again in his glorious full time now for you to wake from majesty to judge both the quick and sleep. For salvation is nearer to us the dead, we may rise to the life now than when we first believed; the immortal; through him who liveth night is far gone, the day is at hand. and reigneth with thee and the Holy Let us then cast off the works of Ghost, one God, now and for ever. darkness and put on the armor of Amen. 6

light; let us conduct ourselves Fundamentally, though there are elements becomingly as in the day, not in that call us to the end of days, I read this prayer as a reveling and drunkenness, not in plea for strength, for God’s grace, in this earthly debauchery and licentiousness, not in pilgrimage. Advent is a microcosm of a much larger quarreling and jealousy. But put on reality, in which we must daily recall the the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no Incarnation of God-among-us, while looking ahead provision for the flesh, to gratify its to the day we will all meet Jesus Christ in glory. desires. This is not an individualistic prayer, for me. It is rather for us, for the church. It is a reminder that we But aside from the history and the biblical sources, are all pilgrims, that we are all walking through let us simply appreciate this prayer for its beautiful darkness into light. rhythms, deep resonance, and rich theology. Light is such a powerful image for us As we draw closer to the depths of winter, because light itself is so extraordinary. If we were to with ever-shorter days, the language of darkness enter the nave in the thick of night, and if we could and light evokes reality and hope. Who among us cut the power and the city lights all around the does not long for not only literal brightness, but also church to get real darkness, and if we then waited in the hope of Christ’s light in a world that sometimes darkness and in silence, we could, if we chose, seems hopelessly shrouded in gloom? experience an extraordinary thing. A single candle We begin by asking for grace, for God’s could illumine the vastness of this church. We gift, that we might “cast away the works of darkness might have to be near the candle to read by its light, and put upon us the armor of light.” We are not just but its light would nevertheless penetrate the ignoring evil or even merely turning away from it. darkness of this space. We would see the reflection To “cast something away” means to take it, to seize of brass here, of glass there. We would see. it, and to hurl it away. To cast something away, we And if we used that candle to light another, have to grab it and reject it. It requires a certain the first light would not be diminished. As we lit fierceness. Our only hope of accomplishing this is one candle after another, we could soon fill this indeed by God’s grace. church with radiant brightness. And that first, Jesus told his disciples to “be not afraid” original candle would not be dimmed. So it is with about as much as he said anything to them.3 To be the light of Christ. It only spreads. Its power to seduced by fear is not new to our time, though penetrate great, vast darkness is unsurpassed. This perhaps our culture is uniquely equipped to create a is why the armor of light can enable us, by God’s deafening cacophony of fear-inducing noise. Might grace, to cast away — to seize control of and hurl this “armor of light” help us to reject captivity to far from us — the works of darkness. fear, which is surely one of the great works of Advent is not merely a quiet time of waiting. darkness? I think so. It is a time for us to remember that Christ’s light Along with the arresting contrast between once illumined the world of Bethlehem and that it “works of darkness” and “armor of light,” the burns here in the Word and Sacraments. Advent is a collect brings to mind the contrasting reality of the time to remember that we followers of Jesus are First Advent and Second Advent. We are reminded meant to be not only bearers of the light, but also of Christ’s visit in “great humility,” and we look vanquishers of evil in this life, in our world, and in ahead to Christ’s coming in “glorious majesty.” We our own lives. remember God among us, Emmanuel, in this What works of darkness do you need to cast “mortal life,” and we pray for hope that we will away? What might it be like to put on the armor of attain “life immortal.” So much is packed into the light? 90 words of our prayer! 7

the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in ______the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he Endnotes shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the 1 Ed. Note: Ed. Note: Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556), living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through Archbishop of Canterbury (1533-1555), compiled the first two him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one editions of the Book of Common Prayer. 1928 BCP is at God, now and for ever. Amen. http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Propers.pdf To read the 1594 Book of Common Prayer online go to 3 http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1549/BCP_1549.htm Ed. Note: The most repeated phrase in both the Old and New Testaments is “Be not afraid” or “Have no fear.” For a complete list of books, chapters, and verses, go to 2 Ed. Note: The Book of Common Prayer (1979): 159: First http://catholic-resources.org/Bible/HaveNoFear.htm Sunday of Advent “Almighty God, give us grace to cast away

LENT MADNESS This text is taken directly from the Lent Madness website [https://www.lentmadness.org/about/]

Lent Madness began in 2010 as the brainchild of the Rev. Tim Schenck. In seeking a fun, engaging way for people to learn about the men and women comprising the Church’s Calendar of Saints, Tim came up with this unique Lenten devotion. Combining his love of sports with his passion for the lives of the saints, Lent Madness was born. The format is straightforward: 32 saints are placed into a tournament-like single elimination bracket. Each pairing remains open for a set period of time and people vote for their favorite saint. 16 saints make it to the Round of the Saintly Sixteen; eight advance to the Round of the Elate Eight; four make it to the Faithful Four; two to the Championship; and the winner is awarded the coveted Golden Halo. The first round consists of basic biographical information about Above: Tim and Scott discussing the relative each of the 32 saints. Things get a bit more interesting in the merits and saintliness of Athanasius vs. Florence Nightingale. subsequent rounds as we offer quotes and quirks, explore legends, and even move in the area of saintly kitsch. The major change from 2010 to 2011 was the introduction of four “celebrity bloggers” to champion particular saints through the Faithful Four. In 2012 we partnered with Forward Movement and its Executive Director Rev. Scott Gunn to create our own website and broaden the number of people involved in the writing process, with Tim and Scott serving as the self-appointed Supreme Executive Committee.

STAY TUNED FOR HOW GSS PARISHIONERS CAN PARICIPATE IN “LENT MADNESS.” In 2012, when rector of St. Andrew’s in Toledo, Ohio, Father Jeremiah Williamson told The Toledo Blade, “‘I think it is a great educational tool and it’s pretty fun.’ Father Williamson added, ‘When you go to Lent Madness, you can learn a little more about our heritage and the folks who have shaped the religion in ways that we continue to benefit from’” (https://www.toledoblade.com/Religion/2012/03/10/Mad-for-Lent-Game-aims-to-show-piety- can-be-fun.html) Retrieved 11.5.2019.

I came to know The Rev. Elizabeth Randall when she officiated at the wedding of my beloved goddaughter Piper (diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at six weeks), for whom we pray in The Prayers of the People, to her husband, Patrick, in October 2014. Piper’s parents are members of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Denver, where I join them whenever I visit them. Elizabeth, a graduate of Smith College and Yale Divinity School, became rector in August 2009 of St. Andrew’s, located at 20th and Glenarm Streets, Denver. Prior to her ordination, she taught at a New England Boarding school, led wilderness trips, and lived and worked in Nicaragua. Ordained in the Diocese of Colorado in 1994, Elizabeth served as Canon Educator and Canon Spiritual Director at St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral until becoming rector of St. Andrew’s. This church has deep historic roots as the second Episcopal parish founded in the Territory of Colorado (1874). Originally called Trinity Memorial Chapel, it was first located at 26th and Curtis Streets, where St. John’s in the Wilderness Episcopal Cathedral now sits. In 1909, the parish relocated to its current home: a Gothic structure of local brick, designed by prominent church architect, Ralph Adams Cram. The cornerstone was laid on August 8, 1908. Around 1919 the parish changed its name to St. Andrew’s. The church survived financial struggles in the twentieth century, while remaining committed to its “diverse outreach within Denver’s inner city.” St. Andrew’s is recognized for its beautiful Anglo-Catholic Liturgy and an outstanding music program, including being home to the professional, non-church affiliated a capella St. Martin’s Chamber Choir. Elizabeth and her husband Alan have a grown daughter (http://www.standrewdenver.org/about/our-history). Rev Randall’s sermons inspire me with their messages and charm me because she tends to write them in free verse.

The prophet “Rejoice!” A Sermon In terms of the wellbeing of the In a conquered city, Preached on the 3rd Sunday of world, Surrounded by disaster, There are some indicators of Called the people to rejoice. Advent, changes December 16, 2018 That promote human flourishing. In the worst of times, by The Rev. Elizabeth Facing death, Randall But these are things we go looking Conquered and overthrown, for, The prophet and the apostle Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians Signs we point to, Bring a message so startling, 4:4-7 Straws to grasp so radical, Amid the flood of news that is all so beyond reason, too real: that it is either folly or comes from Rejoice in the Lord always, Threats to democracy here and God. Again I say rejoice. abroad, Do not worry about anything. Threats to global health, Rejoice. God is near. To health insurance, Setbacks in the struggle for Rejoice, So wrote an apostle in chains,1 equality. Because God is near, Under sentence of death. God is here, And in the midst of all this, And where God is, Don’t worry? The apostle, There is joy. It sounds good; The teller of good news, Jesus said it too. Says, Joy is the surest sign of the Rejoice. presence of God. But, if you stop and think, Do not worry. Worry is really the only rational God is near. Let your gentleness be What is joy? response known to everyone, When does it surprise us? To the times in which we find Wrote the one Imprisoned by a Where does it hide? ourselves. power That was the essence of brutality. Lots of people are thinking about Yes, in our individual lives, joy right now, Some of us, Rejoice and sing, Which is surely a good sign. There are causes for celebration. Rejoice. If you want to go looking for joy Happiness is still a reasonable God is in the midst of you. There is a lot of current research pursuit. Like the apostle in chains, 9

And writing about how to find it That joy is always a surprise and access it. That it comes unbidden Are we willing to seem that naïve, At moments when reason would That out of touch with reality? There is a newish TED talk2 tell us To appear impractical, About joy That there is no cause for rejoicing Foolish? That may delight and surprise you And in fact that rejoicing would be As it delves into the neuroscience folly. Now, right about here of joy That joy is pure gift, I expected John the Baptist And pops bright pictures out at A shaft of light Piercing the To stride onto the scene, you. darkness, Calling down condemnation A sign the life that is wider and On those around us with whom we Circles, bright colors, warmth, deeper disagree, Houses with undulating floors, Than what we see, touch, taste and Bad actors, political opponents, Twinkling lights in the dark of the feel. Oppressors. year, This is a joy over which the Or perhaps, to be realistic, All of these bring moments of joy troubles of the world Calling me, or us, to account. Which we can seek, Have no power. You brood of vipers! And cultivate, I expected him to shout. And share. The The joy the prophets proclaim, Even in the midst of a conquered Wrath is coming. city, Repent! The joy the apostle claims, Embracing it with hands weighed These words, down by chains, This harsh and frightening The joy that floods us without message, warning Would be taken much more And transports us, seriously Just for a moment, By the powers Into the beyond, We want to wake up and shake up. That joy is beyond our control. We cannot court it or cultivate it We could use these words, Or even create the conditions for And it is so tempting to do so. it. You brood of vipers! sweet surprise Of our yarn bombed tree It is not ours to give, You who take away health care Is a harbinger of joy.3 But always ours to receive. from millions. Every day, Rejoice, You who support wars that starve People stop and stare, And again I say, thousands upon thousands of They laugh, Rejoice. children. They pose for selfies. God is near. This is how the prophets speak. Children point and touch, They speak for God. Make rings around the tree. No message could be more They speak to God. It offers a pure burst of delight. startling They bring the concerns of the At a time like this. world To the careless, The world needs this kind of joy. And comfort When we participate No message could be more To the comfortless. In bringing this kind of delight startling, To a sad and dreary, Or easier to dismiss. They condemn, Scared and lonely world, They call out, We offer something precious. Are we willing to be the people They cry. Who claim and proclaim, But our faith tradition tells us As the world frays and falters This is the prophet I expected there is more. around us, To stride onto the scene, More to treasure, Rejoice? As he does in today’s gospel. More to share. Do not worry about anything. But he simply would not appear. Our faith tradition tells us God is near? 10

I tried to shoehorn him in; Is the God who invites us to About which we are right to worry. I tried dragging him by the camel rejoice. How would we not worry, skin, When we look at the world around I tried luring him with locusts and To let go worry, us? wild honey, Fear, shame, For that matter, But he would not appear. Resentment. How would we not worry When we look at the state of the And then, Without joy, church? When I gave up, We could be hard workers, He appeared in the most And plod towards a reasonable But God does not reside in worry. unexpected place, resolution God lives in joy. Leaping for joy. For some of the worries of the Joy that is not bound by our limits. A baby in the womb, world, Our limits are real, Jumping up and down Some sensible compromise But in joy we transcend them. At the sound of Mary’s voice. That would lead to a pretty good outcome. Joy that is not darkened by our Joy is the surest sign sorrow. Of the presence of God. Pretty good healthcare for some. Our sorrow is real, In the presence of the holy, A few habitats preserved But in joy we fly beyond it, Even before his birth, So a few animals could survive. For a moment out of time. The prophet leaps for joy. A few more members of congress Who strive for some kind of So let’s stay with joy today. The prophets call for justice, cooperation and progress. There are times, For repentance, More than enough times, For action. This is honorable work, To be sensible, Except, And in other arenas we may be To be rational, Except, called to do it. To respond to the demands of the When they call us to rejoice. times But when we gather as people of With passion, with action, This is the most counter-cultural faith, With prophetic words message. When we go forth, And committed acts. Rejoice: Strengthened and renewed, Lighting a candle, Fed and forgiven, But not today. Watching the glory in the heavens, Then we are called to be reckless, We are called to rejoice, Following the star until it stops Fearless, And perhaps it is the most essential Over the place where joy abides. Foolish followers thing we do In the way of joy. As people of faith. This is the message That turns the world upside down. Lighters of pink candles. Joy bears witness to the beyond. The message that makes us look Singers of hymns Joy is the hallmark of a world naïve. That sound silly in today’s world. Overflowing with the glory of The message that makes us look Bearers of the light, God. foolish. Casting aside worry and fear. Joy is a glimpse into the more.

The message that will save the When we open ourselves up to joy, Joy is the surest sign of the world. Let go the need to control, presence of God. Let go trying to create conditions Here, always, The God who comes among us as For everything to be alright, Everywhere, now. a baby Then we are no longer constrained Rejoice. By all those things ______3 How yarn bombing grew into a worldwide movement (Magda Endnotes Sayeg | TEDYouth 2015) https://www.ted.com/talks/magda_ Ed 1 Ed. Note: Paul’s four “prison epistles” are Ephesians, Philippians, note: Go to Colossians, and Philemon. https://www.ted.com/talks/magda_sayeg_how_yarn_bombing_grew_ 2 Where joy hides and how to find it (Ingrid Fetell Lee | TED2018) into_a_worldwide_movement [Editor’s note: I have enjoyed this yarn https://www.ted.com/talks/ingrid_fetell_lee_where_joy_hides_and_h tree outside St. Andrew’s. The photo of the yarn tree is from the St ow_to_find_it?utm_source=tedcomshare&utm_medium=email& Andrew’s website.] utm_campaign=tedsprea 11

On May 18, 2019, The Very Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas delivered the sermon at the ordination and consecration of The Rt. Rev. Kim Lucas as Colorado’s 11th Episcopal Bishop, our first woman bishop, and our first Afro-American bishop in the diocese’s 132-year history. Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary, which is affiliated with Columbia University, Douglas is concurrently serving as Canon Theologian at Washington National Cathedral and Theologian in Residence at Trinity Church Wall Street. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Denison University, she earned a Master of Divinity and Ph.D. in Systematic Theology from Union. Initially Assistant Professor of Religion at Edward Waters College (1986-1987) and then Associate Professor of Theology at Howard University School of Divinity (1987-2001), she joined the faculty at Goucher College as Susan D. Morgan Professor of Religion until she became the inaugural Dean of EDS at Union in 2017. Dr. Douglas was among the first ten black women ordained to the Episcopal priesthood. She is a leading scholar in the field of womanist theology, racial reconciliation, and sexuality in the black church. She is married to Lamont Douglas and the mother of one son [https://cathedral.org/staff/kelly-brown-douglas/ and https://utsnyc.edu/faculty/kelly-brown-douglas-82-88/].

Bishop Lucas’s ordination and consecration service, where you can see and hear Dean Douglas’s energetically delivering this sermon, is viewable online at [https://livestream.com/accounts/26139500/events/8635232/videos/191426961]. Thanks to Dean Douglas for generously sharing her sermon. Thanks also to Douglas Berger, Office Manager at the Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary, for his kind and efficient assistance in helping me to work with Dean Douglas and her busy schedule. Without Doug’s friendly cooperation, we would not have this inspiring sermon in our church journal.

Good Morning, Church. So here we all are, “Get on Board Little Children” gathered on this fourth Saturday of Easter 2019 to Working Text: Luke 24: 36-49a witness the consecration of our sister, The Reverend Kym Lucas, as the 11th Bishop of the Episcopal Opening Prayer: Church in this Diocese of Colorado! And as we gather here to witness this consecration, we gather I hear the train a comin' as the church, the Episcopal church, in which it took I hear her close at hand 134 years after the consecration of its First Bishop, I hear those car wheels rumblin' Samuel Seabury in 1704, to consecrate its first And rollin' through the land. black bishops, Suffragans Edward Demby and Henry Delaney in 1918, and where it took this Get on board, little children church 52 years after those consecrations to Get on board, little children consecrate its first black Diocesan bishop, John Get on board, little children Burgess in 1970, and where it took 19 years after There's room for many-a-more. that consecration to consecrate its first black female (+In the Name of Creator, Redeemer and bishop who was also the first woman, Barbara Sanctifier, Amen) Harris in 1989, and where it took it took 24 years after that to consecrate its second black female Bishop Suffragan Gayle Harris in 2003, and where

12 it took 14 years after that, which mind you was calling out to us to get aboard. It is the very train some 233 years after the consecration of Seabury about which the enslaved sung; it is the train that is and 49 years after Burgess, to consecrate its first God’s movement toward freedom; it is the train that black woman as a Diocesan Bishop, Jennifer is nothing less than the Jesus Movement into which Baskerville in 2017. And then it happened — just a our Presiding Bishop has called us.2 Therefore, as year later there was Diocesan Bishop Carlye we sit here in this Cathedral on this morning to Hughes, and a year after that Diocesan Bishop witness the consecration of Kym as bishop in a Phoebe Roaf, and now just two weeks after that we church where not so long ago she would not be a are here to witness to the consecration of Kym priest, in a land when not so long ago she would not Lucas — the 4th woman blessed with Ebony grace be free, —well all I can say is that I hear that “train to be consecrated as a Diocesan Bishop within the a rumblin, rumblin through the land” with the call span of a year after 233 years of waiting for just “to get on little children, to get on board.” one! And so, what, I ask, will it mean for us who Ah, it seems to me that something is moving sit here on this morning to get on board the train of in this land that is calling out to our church. freedom that is the Jesus Movement rumbling And so, it is no wonder that as I was through our land in this our time? thinking about the road we have traveled to get to The answer to this question comes to us in this moment in the life of our church, the words, our reading this morning from Luke’s resurrection “Get on board little children, get on board little narrative, as it reports the third appearance of the children, get on board little children, there’s room risen Christ [Luke 24:36-49a]. for plenty more,” kept playing over, over, and over We enter this Lukan narrative at a time again in my mind.1 Why these words? Because when the disciples are still talking about Jesus’s these words come from a spiritual, which like most appearance to two of their companions on the if not all spirituals, was born from the hardships and Emmaus road. As they are talking, out of nowhere yearnings of the enslaved, and inspired by the Jesus appears in their midst, pronouncing, “Peace bible’s gospel news, which is nothing less than the be with you!” Now because some believed that good news about God’s promised future—a future they were seeing a ghost and that it was not actually where all of God’s children will be free, free to live Jesus in the flesh, Jesus said to them, “Look at my into the fullness of whomever God had created them hands and my feet and see that it is really I.” to be in all the uniquely creative ways in which they To be sure, Jesus shows his hands and his have been created. And so, it was that the train feet to convince the gathered disciples that he is the rumblin’ through the land about which the enslaved very same Jesus that was crucified. Nevertheless, women, men and children were singing, and on that he does this is about more than responding to which they were called to get on board, was for their doubt. For in showing his hands and his feet, them nothing other than a train that signaled the Jesus is drawing attention to the piercing wounds of movement of God in their history—this was a crucifixion. divine movement, a movement leading toward Church, there is something about his freedom, a sure and certain freedom on earth as it wounds. For it is the crucifying wounds of Jesus was in heaven. that make clear once and for all Jesus’s utter Yes, it was these words of gospel testimony solidarity with those who are wounded by the from a people being called to get on the freedom crucifying realities that promise death, not life, in train that was moving toward God’s just future that his own time: like the poor, the lame, the lepers, the came to my mind as I thought about this day in our Samaritan woman. church’s history. For it seems to me, that there is a There is something about his wounds. And train moving through, indeed though this church— that something begins to answer for us what it

13 means to get on board the train that is the Jesus is the movement of Jesus that showed them his Movement rumbling through our land. For this is a hands and feet. “Get on board little children, get on train that goes through the cross, and thus to get on board.” board is about nothing less than “crucifying But then there is more. Our gospel reading proximity.” Which means, this is a train that brings tells us that Jesus did not simply show the disciples us “proximate,” to borrow from the words of Bryan his hands and feet; instead, he also bids them to Stevenson his book Just Mercy, proximate with touch him. “Touch me, and see,” Jesus says. those who bear the wounds of crucifying realities in There is something about touching the this our time.3 wounds of Jesus. For in telling the disciples to touch This train that is the Jesus Movement is a him, Jesus is calling them to take in the deepness of train that will move off the floor of the House of his pain, and to feel the intensity of his suffering, as Bishops and out from behind the stained glass if it is their own. windows of our sanctuaries and onto the streets of There is something about touching the our land where young black people bear the wounds of Jesus, and that something reveals even crucifying wounds of anti-black racism that is more about what it means to get on board the train police brutality, or into our “inner” cities where that is the Jesus Movement in our land. This train black and brown children disproportionately bear that makes us proximate to the crucified wounded is the crucifying wounds of poverty that is the school- one also defined by a certain “crucifying passion”; to-prison pipeline, or to our borders where this is a passion that calls us to empathize with the immigrant children bear the crucifying wounds of pain and suffering of those wounded by crucifying xenophobic bigotry that is parental separation and realities as if their pain and suffering are our own. tent encampments or inside our schools where For here is the thing—when it comes right down to LGBTQ children bear the crucifying wounds of it—even in all of our created uniqueness, we are all homophobic bullying that is suicidal. really the same—that is we are all sacred children Hear this church: there is no getting around of God’s—nothing more and nothing less (and that it. To get on board the train that is the Jesus by the way is pretty darn good!) and so it is only by Movement means that we will have to actually dint of the constructed and sinful human realities move—to move our bodies to the crucifying places that privilege characteristics such as race, ethnicity, in our land so that we can see the wounded hands gendered identity, or sexual expression that the and feet of God’s children who are trapped in the crucifying wounds of another are not our own crucifying realities so that we can know the truths wounds. As my sister would say, we are all simply of their stories, the truths of their struggles, the “dressed up dirt” 4 with bodies that can be hurt and truths of their strivings as opposed to our from-afar be cared for, hearts that can be broken and need speculations and data driven analysis about who love and spirits that can be shattered and need to be they are, what their wounds are, and how to prevent healed. them from being wounded in the first place. And Thus, to get on board the train that is the so, we are called to get on aboard this train defined Jesus Movement is for us to feel the suffering of by crucifying proximity so that when we enter back others, recognizing ourselves in them and them in onto the floor of the House of Bishops or behind the us—so that we never resign ourselves to or get stained-glass windows of our sanctuaries, the comfortable with the undue and unjust suffering of actions we take, the sermons we preach, and the a sacred child of God’s. And so yes, once again to work that we do will actually be on the side of get on board this train that is the Jesus Movement freedom for those whose lives are wounded by means we must move—move beyond the apathetic crucifying realities. This is what crucifying silence and the disinterested aloofness of being a proximity is all about. This is why it matters. This “Sunday-go-to-church people,” so to raise our

14 voices and to show up in protest against those we are to be partners with God in freeing our world systems and structures, policies and procedures that from the crucifying realities, wherever they are, that inflict crucifying wounds of pain and suffering on alienate us from the very peace of God that is any of God’s children. Church, research makes justice declaring all equally worthy members of clear, rarely moves people to act, let alone changes God’s family. This means, yes, that we must their worldview or assumptions as a result of move—move beyond the protocols and numbers, facts, and figures. No, compassion is born pronouncements of comfortable compromises with from experiencing the suffering of another. This is those who would crucify the humanity of another what crucifying passion is all about. This is why it and instead act as if the resurrection is real and thus matters. This is the movement of Jesus that said, forge spaces in the world and in our churches where “Touch me and see.” So, get on board little all people are free, free from the threat of being children, get on board. wounded by crucifying realities that deny the very But then there is one more thing about this sacredness of their being. This is what a train that is the Jesus Movement. For, this we know: Resurrecting Partnership is all about. This is why it the story of Jesus does not end with crucifying matters. This is the movement of the Jesus that realities, for indeed, as Luke tells us, the one who appeared in the midst proclaiming, “Peace be with died on the cross is the one who appears in the you.” “Get on board little children, Get on board.” midst of the disciples. And when he appears, he And so, there you have it, the answer to our immediately proclaims, “Peace be with you,” before question of what it means to be get on board the he even shows his hands and his feet. In so doing, train that is the Jesus Movement rumbling through he makes clear that crucifying wounds are not our land. This is a train that moves through the triumphant; indeed, they have been overcome by the cross calling us to a crucifying proximity and Good news of God that is “peace.” This is a peace crucifying passion with those wounded by that shalom—that is justice—the justice that is crucifying realities so that we may be resurrecting God’s promised future where all of God’s children partners with God in bringing us closer to the future will be free, free from death-dealing, crucifying of God that is a freeing justice. realities and to be free to live and move and have And so what? What does all of this really their being as the persons that God has created them mean as we sit here in this Cathedral to witness the to be. This peace, which the resurrected Jesus consecration of Kym Lucas as 11th Diocesan Bishop proclaims, tells us something about what it means to of the Episcopal Church in Colorado. What might it get on board the train that is the Jesus Movement— look like for us to get on board the train of freedom and that is this: to get on board this train is to be a that is rumbling through this land, this diocese? part of a Resurrecting Partnership. This is a As I stand in this place, I know one place partnership with a resurrecting God, hence making this train is taking us, and it is to those places where clear that the God of the risen Christ does not our children are bearing the crucifying wounds of tolerate those realities that would dare to wound in guns that decry their dignity and take their lives. any way, even unto death, the sacred dignity and This train is calling us to be proximate in the life of any of God’s children—and that is anyone classrooms of fear and anxiety, and also into the who has or has ever had breath. neighborhoods and onto the streets that don’t make Therefore, to get on board this train that is it onto the news where our children, mostly black the Jesus Movement in our time means that we are and brown, bear the crucifying wounds of gun not to be partisans of any powers or policies, be violence in their day to day living—by dint of sinful they political or ecclesial, that seek a kind of constructs of privilege they have not been accorded, “unity” that actually separates us one from another we are called to touch and see their wounds so that by declaring some more worthy than others. Rather, we can do the things beyond resolutions and prayers

15 that matter so that not another of God’s children ______must lose her life saving a classmate from the violence of a gun, so that another of God’s children Editor’s Endnotes does not have to suffer silently from the trauma of 1“The Gospel Train (Get on Board),” an African- guns crackling all around them—we are called to American Spiritual, was first published as part of get on board this train of crucifying proximity and the repertoire of the Fisk Jubilee Singers of Fisk crucifying passion so that we can partner with God University, a private, historically black college in in doing the work that matters to resurrect life Nashville, TN. Gustavus D. Pike, The Jubilee possibilities for God’s children. As we sit here in Singers and Their Campaign for Twenty Thousand the Cathedral in Denver, I know I hear the train a Dollars, Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1873:190. You can read Pike’s book online at © Google Books. rumblin’ in this land, calling us to get on board to free our children from bearing the wounds of the 2 In his sermon at the opening Eucharist of the 79th crucifying reality that is gun violence. General Convention, our Presiding Bishop, The And so, Kym, as you enter this House of Most Rev. Michael B. Curry, invited Episcopalians Bishops, hear always the train a rumblin’ that to be part of the Jesus Movement: living as faithful brought us here to this consecrating moment. It is a followers and sharing the Good News with the train about freedom, a freedom from all of those world. You can listen online to our Presiding crucifying realities that pierce our hands and our Bishop talk about the Jesus Movement at [https://www.episcopalchurch.org/jesus- feet—if not our hearts and souls—with the wounds movement]. Below this sermon, I have included the that deny the very sacredness of our humanity, and emblem and key thoughts of the Jesus Movement as betray the reality of the risen Lord. We are here refreshers for us. today because there was a people before us, who even as they bore their wounds of crucifying 3 I first learned of Bryan Stevenson’s admirable realities who heard the train a rumbling and got on work several years ago in a podcast of his TED talk board to free our land, to free our church from the of March 12, 2012, which I heard at the NPR website in March 2014. A graduate of Harvard, with crucifying realities that held us all back for some a Master’s in Public Policy from the Kennedy 233 years from a time like this. So Kym, as you go School of Government and a JD from the School of forward from this place as Bishop—always hear the Law, he is the founder and Director of the Equal train and be proximate with those who bear the Justice Initiative (EJI), a human rights organization crucifying wounds in this the land that God has in Montgomery, Alabama. His book, Just Mercy: A given you to shepherd, touch and feel their wounds Story of Justice and Redemption NY: Spiegel and so that you can help lead the House of Bishops into Grau, 2014, is partially a memoir of his early days as a lawyer in Alabama, where he took cases in which you are entering to truly be partners with which he fought against the endemic problems of God in doing the resurrecting work that is justice. racism and prejudice against the poor and persons And for those of us who have come here to witness of color in the Deep South. He retells narratives this moment: where these folks were victims of social and legal injustice at the hands of perjured witnesses, along with prejudiced white police officers, judges, and I hear the train a comin', I hear her close juries there. Re proximity: As a child, he visited his at hand, I hear those car wheels rumblin', And grandmother (the daughter of slaves), who would rollin' through the land. hug him and say, “‘You can’t understand most of the important things from a distance, Bryan. You Get on board, little children have to get close’” (14). As a young lawyer, he did Get on board, little children just that—getting close to the victims of racial and Get on board, little children economic prejudice who were often unjustly There's room for many-a-more. Amen incarcerated and even condemned to death row. He

16 writes that “Proximity to the condemned and loaded name of Robert E. Lee Key who changed the incarcerated made the question of each person’s jury’s recommendation for life imprisonment to the humanity more urgent and meaningful, including death penalty—we learn forgiveness. Stevenson my own” (12). He also writes of the role of faith in writes that Walter “genuinely forgave the people his life and that of his clients: “We all need justice, who unfairly accused him.” Stevenson took on the and––perhaps––we all need some measure of McMillan case and secured his exoneration, with all unmerited grace” (18). Amid the accounts of social five judges in the Alabama Court of Appeals and legal injustice, the book offers hopefulness in agreeing on reversing his conviction in McMillan his writing about the “stonecatchers”: those who vs. State 1993. Warner Brothers will release in the respond to hate with compassion. And in the case US a film version of this case, also called Just that forms the backbone of the book, that of Walter Mercy, on Christmas Day. McMillan—a black man unjustly accused of murdering a white woman with a prosecution 4 “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of stacked against him, including lying witnesses who the ground” (Genesis 2:7) were browbeaten and threatened by the police to testify against McMillan and a judge with the

In her sermon, Dean Douglas frequently mentions The Jesus Movement. You may remember the emblem below from the bulletin cover of Sunday, May 19, 2019, when our Presiding Bishop honored our church with his presence.

Seven Practices to Follow Jesus The Way of Love consists of seven practices that every Episcopalian can adopt: • Learn: Reflect daily on scripture, especially on Jesus’ life and teachings. • Pray: Dwell intentionally with God each day. • Worship: Gather in community weekly to thank, praise and dwell with God. • Bless: Share faith and unselfishly give and serve. • Go: Cross boundaries, listen deeply, and live like Jesus. • Rest: Receive the gift of God’s grace, peace, and restoration. • Turn: Pause, listen and choose to follow Jesus.

“The Way of Love is not a new program. Instead it returns to ancient pathways that ‘open up the soul and spirit,’ and brings together and lifts up the treasures of our church and tradition. ‘We didn’t need to come up with a new program for the church,’ said Curry in his sermon, ‘…we have what we need…This is coming from people in this church. The treasure was ready here.’” [From the Diocese of Central New York https://cnyepiscopal.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/way_of_love_primary_graphic_1.jpg]

Editor’s Note: Advent is the first day of a new church year. So during Lent 2019, when I learned from the “Lent Madness” website that St. Anna’s Episcopal Church in Antioch, California, would be the first Episcopal Church named for the first African-American Deaconess, Anna Ellison Butler Alexander (1865-1947), a new saint in the Episcopal Church (feast day, September 24, to be included in the new edition of Lesser Feasts and Fasts), I decided to include the saint and the church named in her honor in this issue —the first issue of the new church year—of the Seasonal Journal. On March 24, 2019, The Rt. Rev. Marc Andrus, Bishop of the Diocese of California, announced the authorization of St. Anna’s Episcopal Church, formed by the combination of two parishes, St. George’s of Antioch and St. Alban’s of Brentwood—just as Grace and St. Stephen’s resulted from the merging of two churches in 1923. An email to and then phone conversation with St. Anna’s Rev. Jill Honodel led to permission to reprint her sermon of December 9, 2018, the Second Sunday of Advent, in which she presented “The Life of the Beloved: St. Anna.” Thanks to Rev. Jill for her pleasant and efficient cooperation.

The Rev. Jill Honodel is Interim Vicar of St. Anna’s Antioch. Rev. Jill received an M.A.T. from Fuller Theological Seminary and an M.Div. from Church Divinity School of the Pacific at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. She began her formal ministry at St. Paul’s in Benicia, California as Assistant to the Rector and Youth Pastor; she then started an Episcopal church in Rio Vista, California, in the home of Guy and Donna Harris at Trilogy, along with Robert Train Adams as the musician, who now serves at St. Stephen’s, Orinda. Later Rev. Jill served for many years as Rector of Grace Church in Martinez. During a sabbatical, she studied the legend of Mary Magdalene in southern France, where for five months she immersed herself in the French language and culture. Rev. Jill has served on many governance committees of the Diocese including the Governance Review Steering Committee. You can read about her many other accomplishments and extensive service to the Church at St. Anna’s website. Prior to ordination, Rev. Jill served in the secular realm as Managing Editor at a publishing company, Ace Writer at a public relations firm, and as Procedures Analyst at U.C. Davis. She loves nature and animals, photography, and travel. She states that she “is happy to serve among the good-natured people of Saint Anna’s,” who describe the church as “a diverse community celebrating God’s love and acceptance.” St. Anna’s congregation includes parishioners from Uganda, Liberia, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Korea, Mexico, Canada, Holland, Lebanon, Sierra Leone, Bermuda and Ghana, among others. The flags behind her in the photo represent the parishioners’ native lands. (https://www.saintannas.org/clergy)

The Life of the Beloved: Jesus was born in a time of chaos, one in which Saint Anna Alexander1 there were many factions: the zealots who were militaristic and who wanted all foreigners expelled; Prophets tend to emerge during times of the Sadducees, who denied the resurrection of the turmoil and chaos. They say things to us that dare dead, were political and religious reformers; the us to think beyond our current condition with words separatist Essenes who were apocalyptic; the like: populist Pharisees. All these groups were vying for power and the average person didn’t know which I have a dream. – Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, one would win. Through the dark clouds of chaos a Jr. 28 August 1963 voice emerged from the wilderness:

Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my Prepare the way of the Lord, make hand, O house of Israel. - Jeremiah 18:6 his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and What does the Lord require of you? To act justly hill shall be made low, and the and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your crooked shall be made straight, and God- Micah 6:82

the rough ways made smooth; and all I return to you Mr. [King’s? the overseer] ’s letter. flesh shall see the salvation of God. 3 I do not think it answers any of the questions debated in our last conversation at all satisfactorily That’s what prophets do: they are re- [regarding] the right one has to enslave another…. imaginers during times of chaos. Today, I will tell He says, that to the Continental European you of St. Anna, a voice from our own past in protesting against the abstract iniquity of slavery, America whose essential message was to reclaim his answer would be, The slaves are infinitely better the dignity of human beings—and she spent a off than half the Continental peasantry. To the lifetime reforming people and did her part to reform Englishman, They are happy compared with the America during her own time of turbulence. Let’s miserable Irish. But supposing that this answered learn of her story today. the question of original injustice, which it does not, Anna Alexander. You may remember her it is not a true reply. Though the negroes are fed, clothed, and housed, and though the Irish peasant from Lenten Madness4 (nationally she won the is starved, naked, and roofless, the bare name of Golden Halo in 2018); we as a congregation voted freemen—the lordship over his own person, the her as our number one saint. There are good reasons power to choose and will—are blessings beyond for this. She was born in Peddick, Georgia, the food, raiment, or shelter; possessing which, the youngest of 11 children. But to understand her, we want of every comfort of life is yet more tolerable must first go back a generation and appreciate her than their fullest enjoyment without them. As the parents, Aleck (James) and Daphne, who had been thousands of ragged destitutes who yearly land born into slavery and worked in the household of upon these shores to seek the means of existence – the plantation owner on a plantation island off as the friendless, penniless foreign emigrant if he Georgia. will give up his present misery, his future Aleck became the personal assistant to “the uncertainty, his doubtful and difficult struggle for master” of the house, Pierce M. Butler, who had life at once, for the secure, and, as it is called, fancied the famous British Shakespearean actress, fortunate dependence of the slave: the indignation Fanny Kemble, a woman with abolitionist with which … [will] prove that… that his sympathies. The two married in Philadelphia, but birthright as a man is more precious to him yet Pierce had inherited several plantations on Butler than the mess of pottage for which he is told to Island in Georgia and “owned” hundreds of exchange it because he is starving. enslaved people, maybe even up to 600. Fanny insisted on visiting the island, where she saw for [She continues] …I do not admit the comparison herself the plight of the enslaved. She made friends between your slaves and even the lowest class of with St. Anna’s father and throwing the law to the European free laborers…. Mr. , in his letter, maintains that they are an inferior race, and, wind, Fanny began teaching Aleck to read. compared with the whites, animals, incapable of Fanny’s journal from the time she spent on mental culture and moral improvement: to this I can her husband’s plantation has become the most only reply, that if they are incapable of profiting by frequently cited source of an eyewitness account of instruction, I do not see the necessity for laws slavery. So, let’s take a bit of time to see through inflicting heavy penalties on those who offer it to Fanny’s words how Anna’s parents and others of them. If they really are brutish, witless, dull, and Pierce Butler’s “slaves” were treated on the devoid of capacity for progress, where lies the plantation: danger which is constantly insisted upon of offering them that of which they are She writes apparently in an argument with incapable. We have no laws forbidding us to teach her husband’s overseer of the plantation, Mr. King: our dogs and horses as much as they can comprehend; nobody is fined or imprisoned for

19 reasoning upon knowledge and liberty to the beasts supply details of misery that it would be difficult of the field, for they are incapable of such truths. for imagination to exceed. Scorn, derision, insult, But these themes are forbidden to slaves, not menace – the handcuff, the lash – the tearing away because they can not, but because they can and of children from parents, of husbands from wives – would seize on them with avidity – receive them the weary trudging in droves along the common gladly, comprehend them quickly; and the highways, the labor of body, the despair of mind, masters’ power over them would be annihilated at the sickness of heart – these are the realities which once and forever. But I have more frequently belong to the system, and form the rule, rather heard not that they were incapable of receiving than the exception, in the slave’s experience. And instruction, but something much nearer the truth – this system exists here in this country of yours, that knowledge only makes them miserable: the which boasts itself the asylum of the oppressed, the moment they are in any degree enlightened, they home of freedom, the one place in all the world become unhappy. In the letter I return to you Mr. where all men may find enfranchisement from all says that the very slightest amount of education, thraldoms of mind, soul, or body—the land elect of merely teaching them to read, impairs their value liberty.5 as slaves, for it instantly destroys their contentedness, and, since you do not contemplate Anna Alexander’s parents were born into the changing their condition, it is surely doing them an world Fanny Kemble described. No wonder she ill service to destroy their acquiescence in it; but this was appalled when she saw the degradation that was is a very different ground of argument from the the foundation of her husband’s wealth. Even other. though Aleck was a household slave, she began teaching him [Anna’s father, James Alexander, [Kemble goes on to say that there is no limit to human nicknamed Aleck by his owner] to read. Her intelligence] and there and nowhere else the shoe disgust for the source of her husband’s wealth really pinches. A slave is ignorant; he eats, drinks, caused a heated divorce, and through risk to herself, sleeps, labors, and is happy. He learns to read; he Fanny published her abolitionist views and traveled feels, thinks, reflects, and becomes miserable. He throughout America espousing those views during discovers himself to be one of the debased and the Civil War. degraded race, deprived of the elementary rights After Emancipation, Aleck married Daphne, which God has granted to all men alike; every action is controlled, every word noted: he may not another “household slave” and left the plantation stir beyond his appointed bounds to the right hand life for Peddick, Georgia, where they taught each of or the left, at his own will, but at the will of another their 11 children, including Anna, to read. Anna he may be sent miles and miles of weary attended her sister’s church, St. Cyprian’s, each journeying-tethered, yoked, collared, and fettered week walking and even rowing the 20 miles to get – away from whatever he may know as home, there, where she saw her sister create a parochial severed from all those ties of blood and affection school. Anna desired to start a mission church in which he alone of all human …. [she continues by their hometown of Peddick, so she asked the priest saying that even if there is such a thing as a “kind of St. Cyprian’s Episcopal Church for help. He master” even by carelessness, slaves are ill-treated agreed to baptize anyone that she brought to him; so when left to the cruel overseer who has no personal Anna—determined—went to Peddick to open a accountability]. She says, Imagination shrinks church whose ministry was educating the formerly from the possible result of such a state of things; enslaved. In 1894, the church met for the first time nor must you or Mr., tell me the horrors thus in the open on a slight hill “near Sapp’s Still, close suggested exist only in imagination. The Southern to a small Baptist church.”6 Father [J.J.] Perry7 of newspapers, with their advertisements of negro St. Cyprian’s came as promised to Peddick to sales and personal descriptions of fugitive slaves, baptize the children. The church moved from

20 meeting out in the open to a farmhouse, then later in focusing on righteous anger, but diverting all of her a store where Anna turned the whisky bar into an energies into making lives better through courage, altar. persistence, and her personal presence. Meanwhile she sewed, taught, and took on Anna Alexander’s pathway to sainthood odd jobs to raise money. With the help of her started in southern Georgia, where they waited for siblings, she raised enough money to buy property 50 years after her death in 1947 and began the for the church she had envisioned. With the help of process of canonization. At our Episcopal General friends, her brother Charles built a one-room Convention in 2015, a resolution passed to officially schoolhouse made of logs above which was a little include St. Anna Alexander in Holy Women, Holy apartment in which Anna lived. Anna’s mission Men. Just this past July [2-18], St. Anna was was to make the children of former slaves officially canonized at our General Convention10 as literate. It was a subversive act, but she spent the the first African- American female saint of the weekdays in the schoolhouse teaching; on Sundays Episcopal Church.11 the schoolhouse became church. Her footsteps were the steps of Christ in A few years earlier, St. Anna had been America. As a woman who spent her lifetime accepted into college in 1897: St. Paul’s Normal walking in the footsteps of Jesus, Saint Anna School, a private, historically black college in became a saint because she knew that a church is Lawrenceville, Virginia. She had used that not a building, but a mission meant to transform education to establish Good Shepherd Episcopal lives and open people up to possibility and Church in this one-room schoolhouse just described livelihood, personal character development, and (September 1, 1902). As the children became betterment of all. Saint Anna is America’s prophet literate by reading the Bible and the Book of calling out to make what was crooked straight so Common Prayer and became educated by her that America will live up to its rightful calling built teaching, she made sure that as many as possible into our own Declaration of Independence that “we were admitted to university. Year after year, St. hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are Anna loaded up her car and carted as many people created equal, that they are endowed by their as possible out of Peddick, effectively depopulating Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among the area in which she started the church. these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of In the early part of the twentieth century, the Happiness.” AMEN. Episcopal Church in Georgia was divided into black Collect for Ste. Anna Alexander and white and therefore had two conventions. In O God, you called Anna Alexander as a deaconess 1907 at a Convention for Colored Episcopalians, the in your Church and sent her as teacher and Episcopal Bishop C.K. Nelson,8 despite all the flak evangelist to the people of Georgia: Grant us the he would take, especially in the south at that time, humility to go wherever you send, and the wisdom named Anna Alexander as the first African to teach the word of Christ to whomever we meet, American deaconess of the Episcopal Church. that all may come to the enlightenment which you Later, her story was told by Bishop Reese9 at the intend for your people; through Jesus Christ, our white convention. Saint Anna clearly did not do any Teacher and Savior. Amen. of this for recognition, yet she deserves the title of Many thanks to saint that she now bears. Walter Holmes, Sr. Warden Her parents had risked their lives to become Paul Nobles, Jr Warden (and Zora and Dwala literate. Anna with stamina and determination, Nobles) became the words said during an earlier tumultuous The Rev. Julian Clark and The Rev. John M. Butin, time as she Prepared the Way for the Lord. She “co-pastors” of Church of the Good Shepherd, A made what were crooked paths straight, not Mission of the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia, at 780

Pennick Road, Brunswick, GA 31525, for the born in Georgia and spent ten days there making visitations in 1891, during which he confirmed many persons and ordained historical information presented in this sermon as Deacon J.J. Perry to the priesthood. See Malone’s History of well as for their support in the naming of our new the Episcopal Church in Georgia 1733-1957 retrieved from church St. Anna’s Episcopal Church. And many http://archives.georgiaepiscopal.org/?page_id=1095.) In The Church Standard, vol. 80, Dec. 8, 1900: 209, where Rev. J.J. thanks to the makers of the beautiful YouTube Perry is cited “for his excellent work among Colored people, tribute to Ste. Anna: A Life Beloved Brunswick, Georgia” Retrieved at Google Books, 10.13.2019. Works consulted [books?id=sIJPAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA209&dq=his+work+amo ng+Colored+people,+Brunswick++Rev.+J.J.+Perry&hl=en&s http://georgia.anglican.org/blessed-deaconess- a=X&ved=2ahUKEwjZgfDWr5rlAhWCuZ4KHYMKBCUQ6 alexander-honored-by-episcopal-church/ AEwAHoECAEQAg#v=onepage&q=his%20work%20among %20Colored%20people%2C%20Brunswick%20%20Rev.%20 Church of the Good Shepherd, Brunswick, Georgia, J.J.%20Perry&f=false] Retrieved 10.13.2019. the church of Saint Anna Alexander may be located 8 Ed. Note: Cleland Kinlock, known as C.K. Nelson (1852- through their website 1917), was consecrated as the third Episcopal Bishop of Georgia in 1892. In 1907, The Diocese of Georgia voted to http://goodshepherdbrunswick.georgiaepiscopal.org divide the diocese into the Diocese of Georgia and the Diocese ______of Atlanta. C.K. Nelson was translated to become the first Endnotes Bishop of Atlanta, a position he served between 1907 and 1 In 1998, the Diocese of Georgia named Anna Alexander a 1917. See Malone’s History of the Episcopal Church in saint of Georgia with a feast day of Sept. 24th. In 2015, the Georgia 1733-1957 retrieved from Church voted at its General Convention in Salt Lake City to http://archives.georgiaepiscopal.org/?page_id. Retrieved include Anna Alexander in the book Holy Women, Holy Men, 10.13.2019. which assigns a particular day for a church saint. The 2018 9 Ed. Note: Frederick Reese (1854-1936) was the fourth General Convention in Austin, Texas, voted that Anna Episcopal Bishop of Georgia. During his tenure as bishop, the Alexander would become a Saint in the Episcopal Church. diocese created new missions for African-Americans. But he The sermon’s title is taken from the YouTube video presented excluded them from church government. Thus, Anna by the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia, A Life Beloved— Alexander was compelled to turn to the Church’s national Deaconess Alexander, which can be accessed at Episcopal Board of Missions for assistance for the two https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0oaSNYQ7YU churches and thirteen missions that served African-Americans. 2Jeremiah 18:6, Micah 6:8 (See http://satucket.com/lectionary/anna_alexander.html) See 3 Luke 3:1-16 Malone’s History of the Episcopal Church in Georgia 1733- 4 Ed. Note: For information about Lent Madness, please see 1957 retrieved from the text that follows the Advent meditation by The Rev. Canon http://archives.georgiaepiscopal.org/?page_id=1095. Retrieved Scott Gunn in this issue of the Seasonal Journal. 10/13/2019. 5 Kemble, Frances, Journal of a Residence on a Georgian 10 Lesser Feasts and Fasts: 490. Plantation 1838-1830. New York: Harper and Brothers https://extranet.generalconvention.org/staff/files/download/21 Publishers, 1863. Ed. Note: For an excellent, readable account 034 of the tensions in Fanny Kemble’s life, read historian 11 Holy Women, Holy Men is the first major revision of the Catherine Clinton, Fanny Kemble’s Civil Wars: The Story of liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church in more than 40 America’s Most Unlikely Abolitionist. NY: Simon and years. It is the official revision of Lesser Feasts and Fasts and Schuster, 2000. Dr. Clinton is Denman Professor of American authorized by the 2009 General Convention. Note that at the History at the University of Texas, San Antonio. 2015 General Convention, Great Cloud of Witnesses will 6http://georgiaepiscopal.org/docs/DeaconessAlexander.pdf replace Lesser Feasts and Fasts. Ed. Note: Church 7Ed. Note: On 10 May 1891, The Rt. Rev. Edwin G. Reid [sic] Publishing’s A Great Cloud of Witnesses is “a new and “advanced Rev. J.J. Perry to the priesthood at St. Athanasius’ expanded volume of optional commemorations of significant Church, Brunswick,” GA (Journal of the Annual Convention figures in the history of The Episcopal Church” of the Diocese of Georgia. Vols. 69-73, 1891: 57). Retrieved [https://episcopalshoppe.com/a-great-cloud-of-witnesses/] on 10.11.2019 from Retrieved 10.13.2019. The title, of course, is taken from https://books.google.com/books?id=qMAQAAAAIAAJ&pg= Hebrews 12: 1-2: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so PA57&lpg=PA57&dq=Rev.+J.J.+Perry,+St+Anathius+Churc great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight h,+Georgia&source=bl&ots=9uRK7jwy6v&sig=ACfU3U39 and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with WDz6nyZsJqzmO54Prh6fM8xI5Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahU perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the KEwj36ea7kZXlAhUMqp4KHcaoBhUQ6AEwAXoECAYQ pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy AQ#v=onepage&q=Rev.%20J.J.%20Perry%2C%20St%20An that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its athius%20Church%2C%20Georgia&f=false ] The 1891 shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of publication stating that Bishop Reid [sic] ordained J.J. Perry God.” appears to be a misspelling for Weed: The Rt. Rev. Edwin G. Weed (1846-1924), the third Episcopal Bishop of Florida, was

Editor’s Note: Some History on Deacons, Between 1885 and 1970, many Episcopal Deaconesses, African and Native American bishops, by the laying on of hands or prayer, “set Priests in The Episcopal Church—The apart” women as Deaconesses: during this period, Marginalized Serving the Marginalized nearly 500 women served the Church in this capacity. These women cared for the poor, sick, and During our phone conservation, Rev. Jill needy. The Episcopal Church modeled its practice Honodel suggested that I do a piece about Episcopal on the German Lutheran Church, which revived this deacons and deaconesses in light of her sermon ministry, as did the Church of England, to help about the Deaconess, now Saint, Anna Alexander. I persons oppressed by the changing world of the thank her for suggesting it, as I very much enjoyed 19th-century’ Industrial Revolution. and learned a lot from this research. The Episcopal Glossary elaborates on the According to the current The Book of history of female deacons or deaconesses: Common Prayer, a Deacon (male or female) The 1889 General Convention exercises “‘a special ministry of service’ directly passed a canon on deaconesses that under the deacon’s bishop, serving all people and recognized their ministry. This canon especially those in need” (BCP: 543). “In addition reflected the influence of Mary to those ordained deacons as a permanent vocation, Abbot Emery and William Reed there are also ‘transitional deacons’ who are Huntington.5 It set standards and ordained deacons as a preliminary step toward qualifications for the deaconesses. ordination as priest.”1 Wearing blue habits that often From the 1840’s to the 1930’s, The caused them to be mistaken for nuns, Episcopal Church ordained Afro and Native they served in places of poverty American men as deacons to serve as missionaries ranging from the inner city to to isolated communities of their own ethnicities. swamps and mountains. Their work These men remained deacons for their entire included instructing in the faith, ministries.2 The Episcopal Church ordained its first preparing candidates for baptism and African American priest in 1804, Absalom Jones confirmation, caring for women and (1746-1818), born into slavery, but allowed by his children, and organizing and master, Mr. Wynkoop, who in 1768 had moved to carrying on social work. There were Philadelphia to become a merchant, to attend training schools for deaconesses in school, where he learned to read and write. New York and Philadelphia. Wynkoop released Absalom from slavery in 1784, Although deaconesses were more whereupon he took the surname Jones. Prior to his purely diaconal than their male ordination as a priest, he was ordained a deacon in counterparts (missionary and the Episcopal Church in 1795.3 The first Native indigenous deacons) in care of the American priest in the Episcopal Church was needy, the church did not allow them Enmegahbowh (pronounced En-meh-GAH-boe) to function liturgically. In 1970 (1820-1902), also known as John Johnson. Bishop women were allowed to be ordained Henry Benjamin Whipple (1822-1901), the first as deacons. All deaconesses were Episcopal Bishop of Minnesota, ordained automatically assumed into the Enmegahbowh a priest in 1868. Because Bishop diaconate, although a few refused to Whipple was such a strong advocate for Native be called deacons.6 Americans, the Dakotas called him “Bishop Straight Tongue.”4 I am an Episcopalian today because an Episcopal Deaconess kindly approached my

23 grandmother. As a sixteen-year old New-York City Endnotes 1 Lutheran (St. Mark’s Lutheran Church), my The Episcopal Glossary at https://www.episcopalchurch.org/library/glossary/deacon The maternal grandmother (my Oma, b. in NYC in definitions online are from Don S. Armentrout and Robert 1886) was sponsored for Episcopal baptism and Boat Slokum, eds. An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church: A confirmation by Deaconess Hildegarde von User Friendly Guide. NY: Church Publishing, Inc. 1999. 2 https://www.episcopaldeacons.org/history.html Brockdorff at St. Mark’s in the Bowery Episcopal 3 https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3h471.html Church, NYC (St. Mark’s Church, NYC, Records).7 4See http://archive.episcopalchurch.org/documents/NAM_Enmegah Described as a “magnetic” and “attractive” person bowh.pdf See also and personality, Deaconess Hildegarde saw my https://livingchurch.org/covenant/2019/06/14/bishop-straight- grandmother, then a twelve-year-old girl, roller tongue/ Both retrieved 10.14.2019. 5 Mary Abbott Emery (1843-1901) was largely responsible skating around the church, but always stopping at for the early development of the Episcopal Woman’s the then-openable (since painted shut) stained-glass Auxiliary to the Board of Missions of which she was secretary windows to listen when the organist practiced. One from 1871 to1876. She played an important role in the 1889 General Convention’s passage of the canon on deaconesses, day, Deaconess Hildegarde walked out of the which not only recognized the ministry of deaconesses, but church and asked my grandmother why she always also set the standards and qualifications for deaconesses. She subsequently joined the faculty of the newly created New stopped to listen to the organist. My oma replied York Training School for Deaconesses, where she focused on that she took piano lessons and could play those church missions. Harvard-educated William Reed hymns on the piano. Invited into the church, she Huntington (1838-1909), an ordained deacon and then priest in the Episcopal Church (1861, 1862), served as rector of thereupon roller-skated down the aisle, was Grace Church, NYC (1883-1909) and as a Member of the introduced to the organist, and shown a piano, on House of Deputies of the General Convention, 1871-1907. He which she played the hymns. (My beloved oma also was highly influential in the canonical authorization of the order of deaconesses in the Church. Retrieved 10.14.2019 had perfect pitch.) Deaconess Hildegarde then (https://www.episcopalchurch.org/library/glossary/emery- accompanied my roller-skating oma to her home at mary-abbot ) and https://www.episcopalchurch.org/library/glossary/huntington- St. Mark’s Place, where she met my great- william-reed grandparents and asked if Jeannette (Nettie) might 6https://www.episcopalchurch.org/library/glossary/deaconess 7 be able to play piano for the St. Mark’s Episcopal http://www.ewhp.org/2013/wp- content/uploads/2013/06/1919-02-NYTSD-Alumnae- Church Sunday School children. The rest is history. Bulletin.pdf Alumnae Bulletin of the NY Training School of Grace and St. Stephen’s also had a Deaconesses: Deaconess Hildegarde von Brockdorff (1859- 8 1918), born in Canada to a Danish nobleman and an Deaconess, Cecile Jacobeit. The following Englishwoman, dedicated her life to Episcopal Church service, information about Deaconess Cecile appears in my for ten years at St. Mark’s in the Bowery in NYC, in the endnote to Marianna McJimsey’s article, “Visiting Lower Eastside of NYC, which was a German community until the sinking of the S. S. General Slocum on June 4, 1904. St. Stephen’s Chapel,” in the GSS Seasonal Journal From the “Parish Leaflet of St. James’ Church in NYC, 1918, (Pentecost 2018 issue): 22: in her obituary”: “Deaconess von Brockdorff was a rare and Born in Germany and educated there radiant personality. Gifted by nature with unusual attractiveness of mind and person, she had a warn and and in London, Episcopal Deaconess affectionate nature, which drew hosts of friends within the Cecile Jacobeit came to St. Stephen’s circle of her magnetic influence. Friendship, indeed, was the breath of her life. With these qualities she combined a Church in 1915; she also served as passionate love of the Church and zeal for its welfare.” governess in the [General William 8The Living Church. NY: More-Graham and Co., 1922: 204. Jackson] Palmer family and joined 9https://www.gssepiscopal.org/download_file/view/1525/ [Information retrieved on 15 April 2018 and 2 May 2018 from them at the General’s deathbed. In http://gazette.com/gallery/5241/pictures; his will, General Palmer left https://www.findagrave.com/ memorial/35158161/marjory- Securities to her valued at $50,000. watt; https://libraryweb.coloradocollege.edu/ Cecile died in Boston on August 14, library/specialcollections/Manuscript/EPalmer.html; Tim 1962.9 Bevins, Legends, Labors & Loves: William Jackson Palmer, 1836-1909. Pikes Peak Library District, 2009: 344. The Living ______Church. Vol. 145. Oct 21, 1962:23]. 24

Our Centennial Visioning Committee As more churches these days resort to store Grace upon Grace fronts to house their congregations, the uplifting by Clelia deMoraes, tones of the church organ, the alluring lights and Co-chair, Centennial Visioning Committee colors of stained-glass windows, and the “From God’s fullness we have all received, grace upon contemplative recesses of Gothic Revival grace.” architecture are disappearing from the religious John 1:16 (NRSV) scene. They are considered either too expensive or inessential to worship. This passage from the Gospel of John As I reflect on my own experience at Grace provides the inspiration for our Centennial and St. Stephen’s, however, I realize how important Visioning process, begun during the fall and about these gifts are to my faith practice. The stirring to enter a new phase after the new year. The Book of tones of the organ and choir at the Christmas Common Prayer, in its “Outline of the Faith,” service lift my spirits to overwhelming joy at the states, “Grace is God’s favor toward us, unearned birth of the Holy Child. Easter morning is a time for and undeserved; by grace God forgives our sins, getting up at the crack of dawn to witness the first enlightens our minds, stirs our hearts, and rays of the sun illuminating the stained-glass stories strengthens our wills” [858]. As Father Steve of Christ’s ministry on earth. The scenes serve as Zimmerman wrote, “Grace is received through brilliant reminders of God’s faithfulness and faith. It is lived in obedience. It is shared in covenant to love us each and every day, despite our community. It is expressed in service” (Faith many transgressions. The hallowed, dark and silent Seeking Journey: 291). embrace of the nave calms my thoughts and soothes The main purpose of the visioning process is my anxieties in moments of prayer and reflection. to help our parish examine the ways in which God’s At Grace and St. Stephen’s our organ, grace shows itself to us. This past fall, on a series stained-glass windows and iconic space help us of church tour pilgrimages, parishioners explored celebrate our experience of grace, both individually how God’s grace is evidenced in our organ and and as a community. As Paul Alexander and Tracy music program, stained glass windows, and iconic Methe of the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado1 space. They learned how God’s grace, made shared with us during the parish retreat in manifest through the donations of generous September, this reality is our true currency as benefactors, inspired generations of faithful people Christians. Stone, glass, wood and metal are not the to service during times of political, social and only expressions of God’s grace, however. During economic upheaval; comforted the dying and the the winter and spring of 2020, we will consider suffering; and enabled people to experience God’s several more, as we dream together about how we sublime beauty in the celebration of the might steward the “grace upon grace” we have sacraments. received, and hand it forward to future generations.

1For the Episcopal Diocese of CO, Paul Alexander is Missioner for Development & Financial Stewardship, while Tracy Methe is the Diocese’s Faith Formation & Development Coordinator.

Ed. Note GSS HISTORY: With the recent merging of two California churches—St. George’s in Antioch and St. Alban’s in Brentwood, as St. Anna’s Episcopal Church in Antioch in March 2019—it is exciting for us at Grace and St. Stephen’s, also created from two merged churches, to anticipate our 100th anniversary in 2023 as a thriving parish that looks to the future. Yet even as we anticipate our next 100 years, we also acknowledge our history so that we know how we arrived here today. In 1923, Grace Episcopal Church (next to the Post Office on Pikes Pike Avenue, downtown, first service in 1874) and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church (at Monument and Tejon Streets, first service 1895) merged; hence, the conjunction in our name, Grace and St. Stephen’s. 25

Nineteen twenty-five (1925) saw the laying of the cornerstone, as seen in the photo, for our present church building. Standing at the left and holding the bulletin is The Rev. Arthur Nelson Taft (1867-1967), rector of St. Stephen’s Church from 1900 to 1923. Also wearing a white surplice and standing to Rev. Taft’s left is the rector of Grace Church (1917-1923), The Rev. Chauncey H. Blodgett (1870-1960) (B.A., Harvard, 1892, B.D., Cambridge Episcopal Divinity School, 1895).1 The two served as co-rectors of Grace and St. Stephen’s from 1923 to 1928. Colorado’s fourth Episcopal Bishop, The Rt. Rev. Fred Ingley (1878-1951), is in the dark vestment with his back to us. The Crucifer (cross-bearer) is Robert Denton. Grace Church sold its property on Pikes Peak Avenue, downtown. “The newly united congregation built at a cost of $253,000 a substantial and magnificent Gothic church, joined to the old building [i.e., St. Stephen’s Church], which became” the Parish Hall.2 E. Donald Robb (1880-1942), a partner in the prominent Boston architectural firm, Frohman, Robb, and Little, designed the building with its distinctive tower. The first service at what is now our present location occurred in 1926. In 1928, The Rev. Paul Roberts, D.D. (1887-1984) succeeded the co-rectors. The Rev. Dr. Roberts served as rector until 1936, when he was named Dean of St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral in Denver; he held this position until retiring in 1956. 3 What happened to the co-rectors? A review of online copies of The Living Church (the Episcopal news and information magazine, founded in 1879) indicates that sometime after 1928, the Rhode-Island-born Chauncey Blodgett returned to his native New England (Nantucket, MA) with his wife and daughter. On April 30, 1932, his son, Chauncey Jr. (1909-1932), a senior at Colorado College, died instantaneously in an automobile accident while returning from a football game in Denver.4 Retiring from the active priesthood in 1938, Rev. Blodgett moved to Baltimore by 1947, where he remained until his passing.5 The Rev. Arthur Taft received his BA in 1890 from Williams College and his theological training at the Andover Theological Seminary and the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, MA. The Colorado College awarded him a Doctor of Divinity degree in 1930.6 The Rev. Taft came to be known as “the friend of the working man,” because he “worked to secure better wages and living conditions for miners.”7 Longtime members of GSS (including your editor and GSS archivist Marianna McJimsey) fondly remember the Tafts’ daughter, Rebekah “Becky” Taft (1912-2005). Thanks to GSS Archivist Marianna McJimsey for her help in identifying persons in the photo. Thanks to the Centennial Visioning Committee for suggesting we use the photo. ______Editor’s Endnotes 4 “Truck-Auto Crash Kills Student,” The Salt Lake Tribune, 1 Information on the Rev. Chauncey Hayden Blodgett is from May 1, 1932. www.newspapers.com/image/598372615. Secretary's Report: For the Fifteenth Anniversary. no. IV. By Retrieved 10.30.2019. Harvard College (1780- ). Class of 1892: 23. 5Stowe’s Clerical Directory of the Protestant Episcopal https://books.google.com/books?id=BxwnAAAAYAAJ&pg= Church of America. Church Hymnal Corporation. 1947: 30. PA23&lpg=PA23&dq=Chauncey+Hayden+Blodgett,+episcop https://books.google.com/books?id=WvnRAAAAMAAJ&q= al+priest&source=bl&ots=_hn68uXsry&sig=ACfU3U03wu5T Rev.+Chauncey+Hayden+Blodgett,+Episcopal&dq=Rev.+Ch AcYSmvFAHLSYAWS77D73gA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahU auncey+Hayden+Blodgett,+Episcopal&hl=en&newbks=1&ne KEwjfiuTy1cflAhUJi6wKHcprAuYQ6AEwDXoECAkQAQ# wbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjp0tOx_cvlAhVNnJ4K v=onepage&q=Chauncey%20Hayden%20Blodgett%2C%20e HSVICFc4ChDoATADegQIAxAC. Retrieved 10.29.2019. piscopal%20priest&f=false Retrieved 10.29.2019. “Church 6The NY Times, Feb 28, 1967: 34, Obit. “Rev. Dr. Arthur Funeral Held for the Rev. Mr. Blodgett.” The Evening Sun, Taft.” Baltimore, Nov. 14, 1960. Retrieved 10. 29.2019. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1967/02/28/i https://www.newspapers.com/image/367620468/?article=c813 ssue.html. Retrieved 10.29.2019. 9271-cc89-41ef-99a1- 7 https://www.elpomar.org/blog/detail/celebrating-80-years- b563e6e02343&focus=0.5111424,0.054789107,0.7395102,0.2 1948-grace-and-st-stephens/2580/. Retrieved 10.29.2019. 0484352&xid=2378 Retrieved 10.29.2019. 2 Allan DuPont Breck. The Episcopal Church in Colorado 1860-1963. Denver: Big Mountain Press, 1963: 213. 3 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/127968284/paul- roberts Retrieved 10.29.2019

A member of Grace and St. Stephen’s, Don Simpson is a retired book editor. For the last ten years, he has been a certified spiritual director, trained by the Benedictine Sisters at Benet Pines Monastery in Black Forest. Don and his wife Becky have two grown children. Thanks to Steve Starr, known to us as Brother Steven Andrew OSF, for taking this photo of Don.

A Tale of Transformation there was still life in my foot. Alone in my room, I by Don Simpson broke into incoherent cries of joy, choking sobs, and laughter. I was utterly overwhelmed by the love of God. My foot was still alive! I blessed God, because Like most serious Christians, I have a keen He had answered prayer and He had done what longing to be transformed into the likeness of rigorous rehab, a TENS unit1, and other efforts Christ, to become a lover of God, and to obey God’s couldn’t do. will. So I have spent much of my adult life pursuing After almost six weeks, I left the hospital a Christian spiritual formation. However, for decades much humbler man. I’m ashamed to say that for I sought transformation primarily from an years I had been disdainful of Christian liturgy. But intellectual point of view. Because I was a book now I began to hunger intensely for the Eucharist. editor for 30 years, I’m a reader and a language- My wife grew up in the Episcopal Church, and I oriented person. Bible study and prayer were crucial knew that the Eucharist was important to her. Many for me, but after many years, these and other years earlier, Becky had sung in the choir at Grace disciplines became dry and lifeless. The and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, so I began Benedictine sisters and the spiritual director I coming to Grace. I was still recuperating from the connected with would counsel me to “get out of stroke, so at first, I came in my wheelchair. I was your head and into your heart.” But I struggled in amazed by the powerful draw of the Eucharist. The vain to make that jump, at least as a consistent way Catholic writer Ronald Rolheiser has helped me of life. embrace the mystery of the Eucharist: However, in September 2013, I suffered a In the end, the Eucharist defies not just rare illness, a spinal stroke. Instantly, I was theology professors, but metaphysics, paralyzed from the waist down, reduced to lying flat phenomenology, and language itself. There on my back—a 70-year-old infant in a diaper in is no adequate explanation of the Eucharist Penrose Hospital. All my defenses were shattered. for the same reason that, in the end, there is My pride, my feeling of being in control, my sense no adequate explanation for love, for of a known orientation—all crumbled to dust. I embrace, and for the reception of life and realized I was starting life over now. spirit through touch. Certain realities take us With the excellent help of Penrose rehab beyond language because that is their very therapists, I made significant progress to get back purpose. They do what words cannot do. on my feet. But for many weeks after my stroke, my They also are beyond what we can neatly left foot was incapable of any movement. It was as nail down in our understanding.2 though dead. But while I was still in the hospital, I was used to nailing things down in my one night I was sitting on the edge of my bed, and I understanding, giving me a greater sense of control. noticed out of the corner of my eye a faint But I found that I was treating Jesus as an object, movement of my left foot—perhaps a shift of a always keeping him at arm’s length. The Orthodox quarter of an inch. Startled, I stared at the foot, cried writer Harry Boosalis says that through this out to God, and willed my foot to move again. After intellectual approach, “Jesus is often seen as a several more quarter-inch movements, I realized perfect human example, whom the believer is called

27 to imitate, rather than the divine Person of Christ in this. God is being broken open and His Body is torn whose life we are called to participate” (my to pieces to be shared with you.” When I open my italics).3 hands to receive the wafer now at Grace, I’m much The 16th-century Anglican theologian more conscious of the flesh of Christ being torn to Richard Hooker wrote, “Human nature is raised by pieces during his Passion and Crucifixion. As I its association with divine nature in Christ.”4 I’m receive the elements, I often experience a profound discovering this is the very heart of true spiritual sense of Christ’s humility and fidelity to God during formation. Jesus prayed: “… just as you, Father, are his sufferings, as well as joy and gratitude for his in me, and I am in you, may they also be in us …” Resurrection. The Desert Fathers7 called these (John 17:21). Jesus calls us to an astonishingly paradoxical feelings charmolypi—joyful sorrow.8 close relationship—into the intimate life, into the Receiving the Eucharist at Grace is a humble love, of the Trinity. At first, we tiptoe into stimulus to deeper change. Instead of primarily this communal Love, but God calls us to revel in imitating Jesus, I am being intimately grafted into Him.5 the “true vine” of Christ (John 15:1). And I’m As He draws us into the fellowship of the finding that the stunning physical reality of the Trinity, God won’t let us stay as we are with our Body and Blood of Christ, and the visceral impact inner structures of pride, relationally poisonous they have, are helping me get out of my head and defense mechanisms, crippling addictions, anger, into my heart. and other attitudes that run counter to the humble I continue to practice Bible study as well as love we seek to enjoy with God. In the Presence of discursive and contemplative prayer. But instead of the Holy, we are called to a more profound inner following only a set of disciplines, I experience the change. Father Rolheiser writes: truth of an observation by Orthodox monk Nikolai The Eucharist is meant not just to celebrate Sakharov: “One cannot love a rule, one can only our joys and gratitude, but also to break us love a person. The Beloved becomes the rule of open, to make us groan in anguish, to lay one’s existence.”9 This journey started, for me, bare our mistrust, to lessen our jealousies when I experienced the overwhelming love of God and break down the distances that separate that night in Penrose Hospital when my left foot us. What the Eucharist asks of us is moved a quarter of an inch. I am so grateful that my vulnerability, humility, contrition, and journey has led me, quarter inch by quarter inch, to forgiveness. Bitterness, hatred, and Grace and St. Stephen’s. suspicion are meant to disappear at the 6 Endnotes Eucharist. 1 A TENS unit is an electric muscle stimulator In the Presbyterian Church, where I had 2 Ronald Rolheiser, Our One Great Act of Fidelity. New York: worshiped for over three decades, Communion was Image, 2011: 29, 30. [Ed. Note: Ronald “Ron” Rolheiser, O.M.I. (Oblate of the Missionary Order of Mary Immaculate) served only seven times per year. After my stroke, is a Saskatchewan native who was ordained a priest in the seven times were not nearly enough for me to Roman Catholic Church in 1972. He earned his B.A. at the experience the joy and gratitude on the one hand, University of Ottawa (1969), B.Th. at Newman Theological College (1973), M.A. at the University of San Francisco and the fruitful readiness to be broken open on the (1974), M.R.Sc. at the University of Louvain (1982) and other that Father Rolheiser has in mind. I longed for Ph.D./STD at the University of Louvain (1983). During and after his own studies, he taught theology and philosophy at the Eucharist at least once a week, if not more. Newman Theological College, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. I was one of a group of persons whom In demand as a speaker, he has published over a dozen books Bishop Kym Lucas confirmed into the Episcopal on various aspects of spiritual life. In 2005, he was elected President of the Oblate school of Theology in San Antonio, Church in May 2019. She fed us the Body of Christ Texas.] by breaking open a loaf of bread and tearing off a 3 Harry Boosalis, Person to Person, South Canaan, PA: St. piece for each of us. I thought: “Don, don’t miss Tikhon’s Monastery Press, 2018: 85. [Ed. Note: Born in 1959 in Minneapolis to Greek American parents, Professor Harry 28

Boosalis earned his Doctor of Theology at the University of monasteries. Saint John Cassian (360-435), Abbot of Thessaloniki in Greece. Since fall 1992, he has been Professor Marseille, was an ascetic monk and theologian; his Collations of Dogmatic Theology at St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological of the Fathers (Conversations with the Desert Fathers), Seminary in Wayne County, PA. He has written several books comprised of twenty-four conversations, a classic work of on Orthodox spiritual life.] spirituality, reflects the teachings of the Desert Fathers and 4 Richard Hooker quoted in Torrance Kirby, A Companion to was compulsory reading for St. Benedict’s monks. Our own Richard Hooker. Leiden, The Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill, Father Brendan Williamson is founding Prior of the dispersed 2008: 307. [Ed. Note: Richard Hooker (c.1554-1600), one of Episcopal order, The Community of St. John Cassian. the most important 16th-century theologians in the Church of 8 Harry Boosalis, The Joy of the Holy. South Canaan, PA: St. England, is often credited with articulating the distinctive Tikhon’s Monastery Press, 1993: 82. theology of Anglicanism, especially the “three-legged stool” 9 Nikolai Sakharov in Martin Laird and Sheelah Trefle as the source of authority in the Church of England: Reason, Hidden, The Practice of the Presence of God. London: Scripture, and Tradition.] Routledge, 2017: 36. [Ed. Note: Hieromonk Nikolai Sakharov 5 See Philippians 4:4 in The Message Bible: “Celebrate God lives at the Monastery of St. John the Baptist in Essex, all day, every day. I mean, revel in him!” [Ed. Note: In the NRSV, the words are, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I England. He holds a PhD in Theology from Oxford University will say, Rejoice.”] and is in high demand as a speaker. In the Eastern Church, a 6 Rolheiser: 113. hieromonk is a monk who has been ordained a priest.] 7 Ed. Note: The Desert Fathers (and Mothers) were Christian hermits and monks who lived in the Northern Egyptian desert beginning around the 3rd century CE 7 Ed. Note: The Desert Fathers (and Mothers) were Christian hermits and monks who lived in the Northern Egyptian desert beginning around the 3rd century CE Some developed small Christian communities as

The Rev. James R. Harlan, born and raised in Colorado, has been rector of the Church of Bethesda-by- the-Sea in Palm Beach, FL, since June 2011. Two years ago, I read about his sermon of Christmas Eve, 2017, in the Washington Post, which I access on my iPad: spending their Christmas at Mar-a- Lago, Mr. and Mrs. Trump attended The Church of Bethesda-by the-Sea on Christmas Eve and heard this sermon about the Word and words (Kayla Epstein, “Trump hears Christmas sermon about ‘the power of words’” [December 25, 2017]). The Post transcribed the sermon, which I read with interest. This news story popped back into my mind when I listened to Father Jeremiah’s sermon of 10/13/2019, in which he spoke about our “age of toxic communication,” Pope Francis’s “war on words,” the Pope’s desire that we speak to each other with words that are “austere and bea utiful,” the tendency to “wrangle over words,” the proliferation of “verbal wars,” and the “meme wars taking place on Facebook”—reminding us that “Jesus wants to speak through us.” So after church that day, I looked up Father Harlan’s December 24, 2017-sermon and contacted him. He kindly and quickly replied affirmatively to my request to include it in this journal.

In 1994, Father James earned his Master of Divinity degree from Seabury-Western Seminary in Evanston, Illinois. Before moving to Palm Beach, he served in Colorado parishes, including the Church of St. Michael the Archangel (Colorado Springs), the Church of St. John the Baptist (Breckenridge), and the Church of the Ascension in Denver, where he was rector from 2002 until being called to the Church of Bethesda-by-the Sea. Coming from a landlocked state, he became a US Navy Chaplain with the Seabees, serving all over the world, but never on a ship! “He first felt called to be a priest in fifth grade. He grew up, the fourth of five children, in a faithful family that was always active in the Episcopal Church. As a teenager his parents responded to a call to live in a Christian community setting, and so he had as many as sixteen fellow residents in his house. He has solely focused on serving the church since the age of twenty, when he became an assistant youth minister at St. John’s Cathedral in Denver.” He and his wife, Eli, have an 18-year-old daughter. [https://www.bbts.org/about-us/associates/james-harlan/] [https://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/bethesda-the-sea-appoints-rev-james-harlan-colorado-its-new- rector/PVRTjnYXW3NTtMshHkzGHI/]

The Power of the Word of welcoming strangers, of truly loving one another, A Sermon Preached on Christmas Eve, of truly knowing ourselves. Your words and mine, December 24, 2017 too, often give voice to and empower the darkness that by the Rev. James Harlan, sometimes seems to loom so large. Your words and Rector, Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea, mine can have as much destructive and divisive Palm Beach, FL potential as creative and healing potential. But God’s Word, made flesh in Jesus, whose In the beginning . . . in the beginning before incarnation we celebrate on this Holy Night, that and beyond you and me, before and beyond this Word is perfect and pure light; that Word is light that country and culture, before and beyond even this casts out darkness and fear; that Word creates within planet: In the beginning, the Gospel According to and around us love and peace; that Word enlightens us John tells us, was the Word [1:1]. The Evangelist to see who we truly are: beloved children of God. takes us all the way back, all the way back, to the And herein lies, I think, the greatest miracle beginning to put this evening’s celebration in the right about this light. It is within you and me. The light of context. Back to the beginning where God spoke and God’s love in Jesus is at the core of who we truly are. there was light. God need only say the word and the That creative, healing light of God’s love is longing to world comes into being. That is the power of God’s shine forth from within you and from within me to creativity and love. Our words are perhaps not so awe- bring light to our lives and to the world. That light of inspiring, but we know, don’t we? —we know the the love of God in Christ wants to shine through to power of speech, of words. enlighten our minds, to bring peace to our hearts, to Nelson Mandela, the great champion of racial heal our deepest hurts. equality in South Africa who was imprisoned for almost three decades, knew the power of words. He I wonder tonight: Where is that light of God’s love said: “It is never my custom to use words lightly. If 27 shining most brightly for you? Don’t get consumed or years in prison have done anything to us, it was to use distracted by the darkness, even though I know that the silence of solitude to make us understand how sometimes it seems difficult to ignore. Tonight and precious words are, and how real speech is in its tomorrow and on from there, let’s testify as John did, impact on the way people live and die.”1 to the light of God’s love that we know in Jesus Words matter. The Book of Proverbs talks Christ. Let’s testify in word and action that no one often about the power of words. Proverbs 18:21, says, need feel confined to the darkness—not you, not me, for example: “Death and life are in the power of the not any person is beyond the light-filled touch of the tongue.” Words can build up or tear down. Words can Word of God in Jesus Christ. Let’s let that light shine speak truth or obfuscate truth. Words convey in our words, in our actions, in our love for every information, emotion, and motivation. When God human being. Let’s let that light shining through us be created the universe, the Book of Genesis tells us, God our gifts to ourselves, to our families and friends, and did so by the Word, speaking, saying, “‘Let there be to the world this Christmas. light.’” ______That Word of God, that Word through which Editor’s Endnotes 1 Nelson Mandela stated this in his “Closing Address at the God loved and lovingly brought this whole world into 13th International Aids Conference, Durban [South Africa], 14 being, that Word became flesh to live among us, to July 2000,” which can be read in Nelson Mandela: In His Own live within us in Jesus Christ. The Word of God is Words. Ed. Kader Asmal, David Chidester, Wilmot James. NY and Boston: Little Brown, 2003: 402. more powerful and more transforming than any word you or I could possibly utter. 2 See John 1:1-9. And the Gospel According to John2 tells us that that Word brings light. Pure light. Light that casts away the darkness of fear and pain. Light that offers the only real possibility of reconciling with enemies, 30

Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde serves as spiritual leader for 88 Episcopal congregations and ten Episcopal schools in the District of Columbia and four Maryland counties. The first woman elected to this position, she also serves as the chair and president of the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral Foundation, which oversees the ministries of the Washington National Cathedral and Cathedral schools. A passionate believer in the gospel of Jesus and the Episcopal Church’s particular witness, Bishop Budde is committed to the spiritual and numerical growth of congregations and developing new expressions of Christian community. She believes that Jesus calls all who follow him to strive for justice and peace, and to respect the dignity of every human being. Bishop Budde was consecrated as the ninth bishop of Washington in November 2011. Prior to her election, she served for 18 years as rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Minneapolis. She earned a B.A. in history at the University of Rochester, graduating magna cum laude. She earned both a Masters in Divinity (1989) and Doctor of Ministry (2008) from Virginia Theological Seminary. Her sermons have been published in several books and journals and she is the author of two books, Receiving Jesus: The Way of Love (2019) and Gathering Up the Fragments: Preaching as Spiritual Practice (2007).When not working, you’ll often find her riding her bicycle, cooking dinner for friends, or visiting family. Bishop Budde and her husband, Paul, have two adult sons, Amos, married to Erika, and Patrick. The Buddes welcomed their first grandson in the spring of 2019. [Retrieved 10.18.2019 https://cathedral.org/staff/budde-bishop-mariann/] Thanks to Bishop Budde for her kind and generous reply to my request.

For Love’s Sake Christmas,” as the carol goes. “Love incarnate. Love A Christmas Eve Sermon Preached on December 24, divine. For love’s sake” [“Love Came Down at 2018 Christmas,” with words by Victorian poet Christina by The Rt. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, Rossetti, Blue Hymnal: 84]. Bishop of the Diocese of Washington, Christmas, to quote my colleague, Bishop Rob Washington National Cathedral Wright, is “the celebration of God’s genius, love The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City wrapped in flesh to accomplish a dream.”1 In Him, and Diocese of Washington Scripture teaches, the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. He came, full of grace and truth. In Him, we have Will you pray with me? received grace upon grace, not for any merit of our own, Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who only for love’s sake. work, or watch, or weep this night, and And while the Word made flesh is God’s genius, give your angels charge over those who Christmas itself—all this, and all we wrap around it sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ, give according to family and cultural traditions—is an rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe entirely human creation. Surely, you’ve wondered, as I the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield have, why we do what we do at Christmas? the joyous, all for your love’s sake. On this holy night, I’d like to offer the most Amen. hopeful, inspired answers I have found, out of the conviction that our lives find their meaning in the Merry Christmas. biggest stories we can imagine. “If the biggest story we Our spiritual ancestors, who lived as we do in can imagine,” writes Rachel Held Evans, “is about the Northern Hemisphere, determined that we would God’s loving and redemptive work in the world, then our celebrate Jesus’ birth in December. Surely among their lives will be shaped by that epic. If the biggest story is reasons was the symbolic power of light shining in the something else, like nationalism, or ‘follow your bliss’ darkest season. “For the light shines in darkness,” as it is or ‘he who dies with most toys wins,’ then our lives will written, “and darkness has not overcome it” [John 1:5]. be shaped by those narratives instead.”2 Our ancestors told stories about his birth, and eventually But it’s Christmas Eve, friends, and we’re here wrote them down in order to help all who would come in this beautiful Cathedral—why not strive to place after them better understand who Jesus was and why he ourselves in the most wondrous story of all? came: He was, and is still, God-with-us. He came, and So here we go: comes to us still, for love’s sake. “Love came down at

“Celebrating Christmas”—now I am quoting the brightness, when our hearts are warmed by gentle gifts great African American theologian and mystic Howard of forgiveness and peace. Thurman— “affirms our solidarity with the whole This gift from God, by design, is a fleeting human race in its long struggle to become more humane experience. It gives us a moment, not a lifetime, of and to reveal the divinity in which all humanity shares.”3 clarity; a moment, not a lifetime, of joy or the capacity to bring joy to another. And as with any other post- He goes on: Christmas let down, we can be disappointed by the fact When we build our creche, decorate the that whatever God offers this Christmas doesn’t last long evergreen, hold our romantic tryst under the enough to really change things. Surely, we all wonder mistletoe, prepare the festive meal, share our why the light doesn’t stick around and overcome gifts as a celebration of the primacy and the darkness once and for all. universality of love, take time to remember in Yet the purpose of God’s gift at Christmas many ways those who have touched us in the seems not to change the world from the outside, as much midst of the traffic of the commonplace, and as we long for that. Christ comes to change us, slowly, sing the ancient carols to honor the birth of over time, so that we might live according to the Jesus—when we do these things we become glimpses of love we have known. The gift is no less real witnesses and instruments of God’s love and for its fleeting beauty, although we do have the perfect care. alibi of deniability if we don’t want to acknowledge the gift for what it is. You and I are witnesses and instruments of Years ago, at Christmastime, I visited a beloved God’s love and care. When we do what we can; when mentor who was slowly losing her cognitive abilities to we, like Jesus, show love for love’s sake, in some small Alzheimer’s disease. In the twenty minutes or so that we way we are putting human flesh on God’s love— spoke, I understood almost nothing of what she said. I sometimes in full awareness of what we’re doing; more wasn’t even sure if she knew who I was. Then, as I often with no awareness at all. “To the strong and the began to take my leave, her eyes, for a moment, regained weak,” Thurman says, “to the happy and the sorrowful . . their familiar sparkle. She looked deeply into mine and . to the believer and unbeliever, to the Christian and non- told me that she loved me. She then charged me to live Christian there is the ever-present hope that tidings of my life in a very specific way that, in light of past great joy will find their way into the heart.”4 conversations, only she and I would understand. Then, Before you leave tonight, name for yourself just as quickly, her confusion and senseless ramblings some way in which you are or have been an instrument returned. I left wondering what on earth had just of hope’s fulfillment for someone else. Allow yourself to happened. Did she actually say what I heard? It was feel God’s gratitude, that you show up, for love’s sake. amazing—a moment of true light and authentic love. I also believe that when we celebrate Christmas, Then it was gone, and I had a choice: would I live as if we open ourselves to the possibility that God has that Christ moment between us had happened or not? something to say to us here and now, that God has a gift Which brings me to my final word to you this to offer us, in the specificity of our existence. As I night, friends, and you already know what it is: should prepared for this moment, I wondered what that gift we place our lives in this wondrous story, there are might be for each one of you gathered here and listening social implications. How could there not be? The story via technology. I have no idea what that gift might be, to begins with an emperor who could move people around be honest, but I believe that it’s here for you, and all you at will. A young couple forced to obey the emperor’s need do is receive it, whatever it is. edict, set out on a long journey in the last month of the In my experience, the gift of God’s love at woman’s pregnancy. She was denied a place in human Christmas comes in and through ordinary things, as community in her hour of greatest need and needed to small as a gesture, a word, a grace given, a quiet miracle lay her child in an animal trough. Shortly after the we could easily miss if we aren’t paying attention. child’s birth, the holy family would be forced to flee That’s the other message our ancestors wanted us to take again, seeking refuge from violence in another country. from the stories of Jesus’ birth: our God works quietly, Those who passed on to us their wonder at in and through human beings, in those amazing moments Christ’s birth wanted us to know that Jesus is no stranger when an ordinary life shines with extraordinary 32 to struggle and sorrow. They wanted us to know, as they allergic reaction to treatment for an infection that led to did, both the gift and responsibility of tending to light seizures. Physicians placed her in a medically induced coma, but excessive swelling of the brain caused extreme damage shining in darkness. For we are the ones now—and I’m that was not survivable. speaking in particular to those of us who are Christ- https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/04/us/rachel-held-evans- followers—we are the ones to keep the light of faith dead/index.html Retrieved 10.18.2019 3 shining, the gift of hope alive, the message of love Ed. Note: Howard Thurman (1899-1981), a prominent African American theologian, author, speaker, and civil rights credible, and that is no small task. leader, promoted a theology of radical nonviolence that Some years are easier than others. In the hardest influenced a generation of civil rights leaders, including Dr. years, the task becomes all the more important. Let me Martin Luther King, Jr. He was valedictorian of his class at leave you with the words of Alfred Delp,5 a Jesuit priest Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, then a Baptist seminary and now a progressive seminary serving Baptists, who gave his life in the German resistance of World War Methodists, Presbyterians, and other faiths. Dean of the II, “Light your candles quietly, such candles as you Rankin Chapel at Howard University, he later became the first possess, wherever you are.” That we do matters more African American Dean of Marsh Chapel at Boston University, a predominantly Caucasian campus. In 1974, The than we will ever know. Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine in NYC named him God’s loving and redemptive work in the world an honorary Canon. rests with us, as we take our place in the most 4 Howard Thurman. The Mood of Christmas and Other wonderful, mysterious, important story we can imagine. Celebrations. NY: Harper and Row, 2011: xi 5 Ed. Note: Father Alfred Delp, S.J. (1902-1945 executed by I invite you to welcome Christ tonight, God-with-you. the Nazis), a Jesuit who secretly helped Jewish persons to Then join me tonight in promising for the first or escape Nazi territory, was an influential member of the thousandth time to live as if this story, this amazing Kreisau Circle, a group of men and women who came together story, is our story, so that together we might leave this to oppose Hitler’s Nazi regime for both political and moral reasons. They discussed how Germany would reorganize its place as witnesses and instruments of God’s love, for government after WW II. The Gestapo viewed them as love’s sake. treasonous as they worked on the premise that Germany would ______lose the war. “In a letter from prison, Father Alfred Delp penned the words, ‘All of life is Advent.’” The Ignatius Endnotes 1 th Insight website continues: “He would spend the last Advent of Ed. note: The Rt. Rev. Robert C. Wright is the 10 Bishop of his life in a Nazi prison. . . . . The danger of the time and place The Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta. 2 in which he lived gave Father Delp a unique perspective about Rachel Held Evans. Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Advent. Not only did he live and work in an area of Munich Water, and Loving the Bible Again. Nashville: Thomas that was being bombed regularly, his life was also in constant Nelson. Kindle Edition. 2018: 218. Ed. Note: Christian writer danger because of his resistance activities as an opponent of Rachel Held Evans (1981-2019) “sent shock waves across the Nazi regime. That sense that the ‘end’ was imminent— Christian social media in 2015 when she said she no longer whether that meant the end of his own life, the lives of loved considers herself ‘evangelical.’” Interviewed about her choice ones, or the longed-for end of the war-—inspired Father Delp to leave the evangelical faith in which she was raised to to ponder the true meaning of Advent.” His prison meditations become an Episcopalian, she stated, “‘It’s [i.e., the about Advent, as well as Advent sermons that he presented to Evangelical church has] taken on political connotations that I his parishioners in Munich, were smuggled out of prison, and adamantly oppose. Trump has become this figurehead of collected in a book, Advent of the Heart: Seasonal Sermons Christianity, which I think is really harmful.” [Donna Freitas. and Prison Writings 1941-1944. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. “Ex-Evangelical Rachel Held Still Cherishes Her Bible.” 2006. The Ignatius Insight webpage states: “His approach to Publishers Weekly. May 9, 2018. Retrieved 10.16.2019. Advent, the season that prepares us for Christmas, is what Fr. https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry- Delp called an ‘Advent of the heart.’ More than just preparing news/religion/article/76494-ex-evangelical-rachel-held-evans- us for Christmas, it is a spiritual program, a way of life. He on-feminism-and-the-bible.html]. Ms. Evans’ obituary in The proclaimed that our personal, social and historical NY Times (May 4, 2019) discusses her spiritual journey and circumstances, even suffering, offer us entry into the true unique writing voice [that] fostered a community of believers Advent, our personal journey toward a meeting and dialogue who yearned to seek God and challenge conservative Christian with God. Indeed, his own life, and great sufferings, illustrated groups that they felt were often the true Advent he preached and wrote about.” exclusionary.”.https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/04/us/rachel http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2009/adelp_lifeisadve -held-evans.htm. Retrieved 10.16.2019. Mrs. Evans died at nt_nov09.asp) Retrieved 10.16.2019. age 37 after a lengthy hospitalization because of a severe

A Williamson Family Christmas past those veils to my parents’ bedroom. There we by The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson, would jump into bed to wake them up. Because no Rector, Grace and St. Stephen’s Episcopal one, and I mean no one, entered the dining room Church without permission and guidance. My parents were always the chaperones. That was an unbreakable When I was a child, my family observed a tradition. singular entrenched tradition for most of the cycle of annual holidays. Easter, Thanksgiving, and We would line up facing the blankets. And Independence Day: it was always the same, the one then my dad would say, “Close your eyes.” We constant in our celebratory lives, namely, a long and could not enter the room without first closing our windy drive to the grandparents. The cast of eyes. And then, one by one, my dad would characters waiting for us to arrive varied, depending verbalize directions: a step to the right, a few on the demands of unknown in-laws; sometimes we forward, two to the left, half a step here, and half a ate ham, sometimes turkey. Not even the hosting step there. Eyes still closed, we would stumble home was necessarily a given: it could be maternal through the room, awaiting permission to open our or paternal grandparents; occasionally my great- eyes to our pile of presents. And there was always a grandmother would open her home to our chaos. In pile. There were years when money was scarce. the Williamson household, things were usually too But always there were piles of presents. And spontaneous to get wrapped up in traditions. And always in the exact same location around the tree: so the only thing we could count on, when a holiday mine on the left, my sister’s on the right, my gave us time off from school, was a trip in the car. brother’s in the middle. That was our tradition. It We knew that was coming. was the same every year. Everything was the same every year. But Christmas was different, very different. On Christmas we followed a very precise, Christmas has always been my favorite unwritten, internalized script. With the exception of holiday. It feels magical. The traditions not only the toys hiding beneath the wrapping paper, our grounded our celebration, but also gave me traditions were enshrined and consistent. We something for which to look forward. No matter watched the same Christmas movies, year after how the year had gone, I knew Christmas was year. We listened to the same music, by the same something I could count on; it was going to be crooners. We always went to church on Christmas special; it always was. Eve. We were always sent to bed early that night— The traditions I knew as a child, I have always with a stern warning to stay put. And I passed on to my children. We watch the same would lay there in bed, awake with excitement, movies and Christmas specials each year; we listen trying to decipher which red light in the night sky to the same timeless songs. We always go to belonged to Rudolph. And then, as the night church, and are then sent out into the darkness of darkness grew deep, my eyes would slowly close Christmas Eve by the sweet melody of Silent Night. for what really amounted to a long nap. It was always the same routine. And then every Christmas morning, my boys close their eyes. And I lead them down the To be sure we didn’t spoil the Christmas stairs to the Christmas tree, where their gifts await morning reveal, my parents would always tack them. No peeking. That’s the tradition. And they blankets over the dining room doorways. The first stand still, awash in the glow of colored lights, until child up would rouse the others, and we would run I say, “OK. You can open your eyes.”

George Herbert’s “A Wreath”: The Puritans of the Mayflower A Poet’s Personal Epiphany About Being Too considered wreaths pagan, but Celtic Clever for His Own Good traditions use the circle to unite around the cross, while catholic traditions find by Joan Ray, PhD it reflected in the wafer, the chalice, the A member of GSS since coming to Colorado paten and even the monstrance. . . . Springs from NYC in August 1978, Joan began her Round. The great round sun. The academic career as a tenure-track, assistant round sister moon. The round pupils professor of English, specializing in 17th and 18th- through which they have been seen for century British literature at UCCS. She earned her A.M. and Ph.D. degrees in English from Brown millions of years. These bright orbs University. She retired in December 2012 as have joined stars as direction-finders Professor Emerita and President’s Teaching for millennia guiding Eastern Kings to Scholar. In fall 2019, Joan began taking the the Christ Child and missionaries to Education for Ministry Class under Anna Johnson’s foreign shores. excellent mentorship. George Herbert is Joan’s favorite religious poet. All of us are familiar with Advent and

Christmas wreaths. The Oxford English Dictionary The Rev. Charles LaFond, Canon Steward at (OED) defines wreath as “a garland of intertwined our own St. John’s in the Wilderness Episcopal leaves traditionally associated with praise or Cathedral in Denver, pens “The Daily Sip,” which I honour” (def. 11). While the Advent Wreath did have enjoyed and learned from online at The not arrive in England until the nineteenth century,1 Episcopal Café. You can read his blog at seventeenth-century British poet and Anglican http://thedailysip.org/. On January 3, 2016, he priest, George Herbert (1593-1633), would have began a series of essays about “wreaths and Rules been familiar with the wreath as a symbol of praise of Life” (https://www.episcopalcafe.com/wreaths- and honor from classical mythology, as well as in and-rules/). In this piece, he explains, “We will be Ancient Greek and Roman culture. Images and considering the circle and how the spiritual life is statues of the Greek and Roman god Apollo usually informed and inspired by it through the use of a Rule depict him wearing a laurel wreath. Ancient Greek of Life.” Basically, a Rule of Life is an intentional Olympians wore olive wreaths. Ancient Roman pattern for spiritual growth. The Episcopal Glossary emperors wore laurel wreaths, symbolic of their calls a Rule of Life “a set of guidelines and authority. The Getty Museum website explains that commitments directing one's life.” You can learn “The ancient Greeks first introduced the crown as more about this at the Episcopal Glossary online an honorary reward for victors in athletic, military, (https://www.episcopalchurch.org/library/glossary/r poetic, and musical contests.”2 And in three ule-life). Some of you reading this article are familiar with “St. Benedict’s Toolbox,” a course taught by Gospels, we read of Jesus’ captors’ placing a wreath Cindy Page, which looks at the monastic Rule of Life or crown of thorns on our Savior’s head to mock his developed by St. Benedict in the 6th century; the course claim of authority. is based on a book by an Episcopal priest: The Rev. Herbert’s poem, “A Wreath” intends to offer Jane Tomaine’s St. Benedict’s Toolbox: The Nuts and “A wreathed garland of deserved praise, / Of praise Bolts of Everyday Benedictine Living. NY: Morehouse deserved, unto” God. Many readers of our church’s Publishing, Church Publishing Company, 2005, 2015. Seasonal Journal will recall my discussing other In addition to discussing a Rule of Life, Father poems by George Herbert, the greatest religious LaFond offers some insights about wreaths and their poet in the English language. He composed only circular shape in relation to a rule of life: devotional poetry, all of which is in his book, The Temple (1633), published shortly after his death.

Our 1982 Hymnal readers will see Arlen Clarke’s Colorado Springs contains five hymns connection.) using Herbert’s poems Herbert’s short poem, written in simple as lyrics. In 2013, language, appears (deceitfully) easy to read. The Arlen Clarke poem artfully presents a round wreath in its twelve presented a straight printed lines. And these poetical lines reveal Communion Anthem an ingenious circular pattern in their rhyme scheme based on “A Wreath” and repeated words or phrases, thus intertwining for organ and SATB sounds and words the way one intertwines (soprano, alto, tenor, evergreen or laurel branches to form a wreath. I bass) choir; the St. suggest, based on Father LaFond’s ideas relating James Music website describes the piece as “a roundness to a Rule of Life, that this “round” or simple and absolutely beautiful anthem for “circular” poem—although it appears linear on the communion, general use, or anytime when humble page—also led the poet to discover a Rule of Life. praise is the focus of the service.3 (In endnote 3, A Wreath4

A wreathed garland of deserved praise, a Of praise deserved, unto thee I give, b I give to thee, who knowest all my wayes, a My crooked winding wayes, wherein I live, b 4 Wherein I die, not live: for life is straight, c Straight as a line, and ever tends to thee, d To thee, who art more farre above deceit, c Than deceit seems above simplicitie. d 8 Give me simplicitie, that I may live, b So live and like, that I may know thy wayes, a Know them and practise them: then shall I give b For this poor wreath, give thee a crown of praise. a 12

______

In the study of poetry, we indicate lines that other line rhymes (like a,b,a,b or b,a,b,a), we have rhyme5 with letters: the final vowel sounds of lines an alternating rhyme scheme. 1and 3 (praise / wayes) rhyme, which is signified by the letter a, while the rhyme of lines 2 and 4 (give / But rhyming is not the poet’s only method live) is signified by the letter b. (New rhymes get of intertwining. The first four lines end, new letters in alphabetical order.) The final four respectively, in “praise,” “give,” “wayes, “live,” lines of the poem (ll. 9-12) reverse the rhyming while the last four lines use the same final words, pattern of the first four lines: the initial a, b, a, b but in reverse order (as he did with the rhymes): pattern becomes b, a, b, a in lines 9-12. This “live,” “wayes,” “give,” “praise.” So, in addition to repeated but reversed sound pattern suggests that intertwining with rhyme, the speaker intertwines by we have come full circle (like a wreath) to closure repeating words, but—as with the rhymes—in rhyme-wise at the end of the poem: his a,b,a,b and reverse order b,a,b,a rhymes tie a rhyming knot. When every

But the poet doesn’t stop his oh-so-clever Morally “crooked, winding wayes” do not lead to intertwining here. eternal life. Remember, too, that “crooked winding ways” are serpentine. And we know what that Herbert elaborates on the idea of a wreath by means! weaving—repeating— a word from one line into In the middle stanza (lines 5-8), the final the next line. Then, he creates even more words of these lines are “straight,” “thee,” “deceit,” interconnectedness between the lines by the and “simplicitie,” which we rhyme as c, d, c, d. But repetition of the final phrase (a phrase is group of wait! Obviously, they aren’t true rhymes the way words) in a slightly altered word order at the start of lines 1-4 and 9-12 are, which is why we call the the subsequent line: “of deserved praise, / Of praise alternate rhyming of lines 5 and 7 and 6 and 8 deserved,” “unto Thee I give, / I give to Thee,” “my imperfect, near, slant, or oblique rhymes: either the wayes / My crooked winding wayes,” etc. vowels or the consonants of stressed syllables rhyme (another common near rhyme is year / your). This poetic text is an overt, even showy tour de force of rhyming and wordplay. And all this What is the poet doing here? cleverness is, in a sense, deceitful, because at first glance, the poem appears quite easy to read. If you’re getting somewhat bewildered, you’re not alone: the poet has recognized that Walking Us Through the Poem despite his desire to offer a wreath to honor God, the morally “crooked winding wayes” of his life do The speaker begins offering a “wreathed not please God. Let’s see what is occurring in this garland of deserved praise” to God, who is entitled section of the poem. to highest honor. But by lines 4-5, the poet inserts or weaves himself into the poem / wreath by First, notice that lines 4 and 5 are linked acknowledging God’s recognition of his “crooked, with parallel wording, “wherein I live, — / Wherein winding wayes, wherein I live, / Wherein I die, not I die, not live.” The poet has self-consciously live.” veered into tough spiritual awareness of his “crooked winding wayes” that lead not to God and Consequently, the giver of this wreath-gift eternal life, but to spiritual death. Of course, his to God is now altering his gift of praise to God into words and lines in the poem, with their repetitions a personal prayer to God on his own behalf. Perhaps and inversions, manifest crooked winding ways, the poet recalls Psalm 139:1-2: “O Lord, thou hast too, in spite of their appearing as straight lines on searched me out and known me: thou knowest my the printed page. In the Coverdale Bible, Proverbs down-sitting and mine up-rising, thou understandest 2:12-15, the poet / clergyman Herbert read about my thoughts long before. Thou art about my path, the “evell waye” for those who “leave the hye and about my bed: and spiest out all my ways” street, and walk i[n] [the] wayes of darkenesse: (Coverdale Bible, 1535, my boldface). As the late which [rejoice] in doing evell, and delyte i[n] Herbert scholar, Dr. John M. Court (Senior wicked things: whose wayes are croked, and Research Fellow, University of Kent, Canterbury), their pathes slaunderous.”7 Our speaker has pointed out, Herbert was “profoundly influenced by become aware of the “crooked winding wayes” in the Psalms…. The version that [he] would have his spiritual life and in his present poem in its been most familiar with was [Myles] Coverdale’s conspicuously artful and entangling rhyming and 6 translation from the Great Bible.” word play.

Coiled, entangled, and even encoiled8 in clever interweaving of words and rhymes is a “crooked winding wayes,” what better impetus is proper way to praise God. there for the poet to pray for help? “Give me simplicitie,” prays the speaker, “that I may live”: here he is focusing on how best to “Die,” of course, is the opposite of “live,” live an earthly (and perhaps poetry-writing, which he negates (“not live”) in line 5. With this creative-writing) life so that he may be rewarded negation, the speaker pursues his prayer for a new with an eternal life. He now knows: “So live and life: his “crooked winding wayes” need to be like, that I may know thy wayes, / know them and replaced by a life that is (ll.5-6) “straight, / Straight practice them.” All of us realize that knowing and as a line, and ever tends to Thee.” In Isaiah 40:3, practicing God’s ways are not simple tasks; one the clergyman-poet would have read, “A voyce needs God’s constant help to “know” and “practice” crieth: Prepare ye waye for the LORDE in the a life that is “Straight as a line, and ever tends to wyldernesse, make straight ye path for oure God in thee.” The “simplicitie” for which the speaker prays the deserte.” This is echoed in Mark 1:3, “The is neither simple-mindedness nor innocent naiveté; voyce of a cryer is in the wyldernes: Prepare the rather, it is discerning enough to recognize and waye of the LORDE, make his pathes straight.” avoid the deceit that leads one into temptation, to Jesus ends the Sermon on the Mount, “‘Enter in at those “crooked winding wayes” that detour us from the strayte gate’” (Matthew 7:13 Coverdale Bible, the straight and narrow. 1535, my boldfacing). A Benedictine Prayer is appropriate to plug in here, as it speaks to Herbert’s desire for a Ironically, though, the poet breaks the “simplicitie” that is wise and intelligent (my thought that “life is straight, / Straight as a line” into boldfacing): two lines (ll. 5-6) that do not form a straight line on Gracious and Holy Father, the page. They zigzag like this: give us the wisdom to discover You, life is straight, the intelligence to understand You, Straight as a line the diligence to seek after You, He is not yet where he prays and yearns to be. the patience to wait for You, Admonishing himself, the speaker is now eyes to behold You, working out that the best gift he can give to God is a heart to meditate upon You, not a rhetorically artful poem with clever and a life to proclaim You, interwoven rhymes and words, but a life that through the power of the Spirit of Jesus, our Lord. follows His ways, following Him, “who art farre Amen. more above deceit, / Than deceit seems above simplictie.” God, who knows all our ways, is as far A Roman Catholic website cites this prayer for above deceit as deceit (cleverness, artifice) is above “Protection from Evil” simplicity, which fails to discern or recognize [http://saintbenedictprotection.com/saint-benedict- deceit. In Coverdale’s Bible, Malachi 3:8 asks the prayers/]. rhetorical question, “Shulde a man use falsede and disceate with God?” (DUH! NO, of course not!) What is “simplicitie”? The word disceate is the 15th-century spelling of deceit (OED, deceit, 1 a.). The extended reply to Now, back to the poet’s prayer for that rhetorical question, of course, is that one who “simplicitie.” Professor Elizabeth Clarke tries to use falsehood and deceit with God will be (University of Warwick) observes that the cursed and rejected. Indeed, the poet was deceiving Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498) himself by thinking that an artful poem with a “was one of Herbert’s favourite authors,”

38 particularly the friar’s famous treatise, De Christian ought. Following this kind of life, living Simplicitate Christianae Vitae (1496), which is like this, is one’s real, best gift to the Lord. The translated as The Felicity of a Christian Life.9 In this Coverdale Bible, 1 Corinthians 9:25, states, “Every work, Savonarola explains that a blessed life is one that proveth mastery, absteyneth from all found neither in sensual nor material pursuits; thinges, and they do it, maye optayne a corruptible rather, a blessed life comes from God’s grace that crowne, but we to optayne an uncorruptible enables us to imitate the life and teachings of Jesus crowne.” In the New Revised Standard Version, we through simplicity of the heart or interior simplicity, read that same verse in these words: “Athletes reflecting inner harmony and peace. Savonarola’s exercise self-control in all things; they do it to concept of simplicity is sometimes called “radical receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable simplicity.” Clarke explains that Herbert was one.” attracted to Savonarola’s simplicitas because it The athlete, including the nimble poet with shunned ornamentation and display: in religious his cleverly rhyming verse and intertwined, practice and (by extension) for our poet in terms of repeated words,10 may receive an earthly crown—a the overt artistry that he used in “A Wreath” with its laurel or olive crown of praise, which, however, is clever wordplay and rhyming. I suggest this is what corruptible because vegetative leaves wither. But our poetical speaker means by praying, “Give me the person who lives a Christlike life, who follows simplicitie.” God’s ways, offers the best gift to God and receives Understanding the desire for “radical the “imperishable” crown of eternal life that Christ simplicity,” inner peace that leads “us not into won for us with his crown of thorns. temptation, but deliver[s] us from evil,” the poet Our Presiding Bishop encourages us to live returns to a true or perfect alternating rhyme this kind of life in The Jesus Movement: “The Jesus scheme, beginning in line 9 and continuing to line Movement is the ongoing community of people 12 (b,a,b,a), which, as already mentioned, reverses who center their lives on Jesus and following him the alternate rhyme pattern of the first four lines. into loving, liberating and life-giving relationship Inner spiritual harmony is reflected in perfect (as with God, each other and creation” opposed to off or near rhyme, used in lines 5-8) on [https://www.episcopalchurch.org/jesus- the page. This true, alternate rhyming of lines 9-12 movement]. reflects the poet’s recognizing what a true gift of As Paul preached in Philippians 4:1, “‘Therefore, praise to God really is: not an ingeniously clever, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my brilliantly artful poem, not “a poore wreath” on a joy and crown [think wreath of praise], stand firm in the piece of paper, but as he states in line 10, a life that Lord in this way, my beloved’” (NRSV). Here we one (“live[s] and like[s]) according to the ways of recognize the poet’s finding a Rule of Life, which he God. Here “like” is used not in the sense of takes from Savonarola’s simplicitas. As Father Charles enjoying or liking something, but rather as living LaFond wrote in his Daily Sip, “spiritual life is informed like or according to the ways of God. A life that is and inspired by [the circle] through the use of a Rule of “Straight as a line, and ever tends to thee” is Life.” Herbert found the insight for his Rule by writing his Christlike: obedient to God, devout, humble, honest, circular poem, “A Wreath.” But this circular poem, loving, but also discerning enough to avoid the ironically, led the poet to a personal and poetic epiphany temptation to evil. (Think Jesus Movement!) through its straight lies on the page. Living a Christlike life of “radical simplicity” replaces “this poore wreathe” with a as a Endnotes true “crown of praise” for God by the poet’s living ______1 For more information about the Advent wreath, please see History of the Advent Wreath in The Liturgical Seasons article in this issue of the journal.

“This world, within whose heartstrings I feel myself 2 https://blogs.getty.edu/iris/the-ancient-origins-of-the-flower- *encoiled” crown/ Retrieved 10.24.2019. https://www.oed.com/oed2/00074417 Retrieved 10.30.2019. English writer Philip James Bailey’s (1816-1902) epic poem 3 Arlen Clarke (1954-), conductor, composer, and singer, Festus, a version of the Faust Legend, first published in 1839 studied opera in Colorado Springs with Martile Bucklew- and extremely popular in Victorian England, is regaining Rowland and sang with the Colorado Springs Symphony and readership today beyond scholarly circles. The Faust Legend Colorado Chorale. For the 1989-90 season, Clarke was tells the story of a man who sells his soul to the devil for composer-in-residence at Grace and Holy Trinity Episcopal knowledge and power: a bargain with the devil. Cathedral in Kansas City, MO. St. James Music Press, Voice of the Rockies, and Lorelei Music publish his musical works. 9 Girolamo Savonarola, (1452-1498) was a highly educated (St. James Music Press, Added on Feb. 7, 2013 Italian Dominican friar who preached with hellfire zeal against https://www.sjmp.com/just-added) Retrieved 9.25.2019. the corruptions of the church and the debauchery of Florentine society during the Renaissance (15th century). While he 4 The English Poems of George Herbert. Ed. Helen Wilcox. preached against the exploitation of the poor, he also Cambridge University Press. 2013: 645. denounced luxury and pleasure of any kind. He even employed street urchins to spy on anyone and anything 5 True rhyme: when the same or similar sounds occur in words suspicious. Obsessive in his denunciations of church luxury, at the end of lines, with the vowel sounds in the stressed he made many enemies in the Church, who ordered his violent syllables matching, while the preceding consonants do not, as execution. For George Herbert’s familiarity with De in ways and praise. Simplicitate Christianae Vita, see Elizabeth Clarke, “George Herbert’s “The Temple: The Genius of Anglicanism and the 6 John M. Court, Biblical Interpretations: The Meanings of Inspiration for Poetry,” in Geoffrey Rowell, ed. The English Scripture Past and Present. London and NY: T&T Clark, Tradition and the Genius of Anglicanism. Eugene, Oregon: 2003: 118. The Great Bible, prepared by Myles Coverdale and Wif and Stoc, 2008: 139. Herbert’s deep interest in published in England in 1539, was the first authorized Bible in Savonarola’s treatise is shown in a passage written by the Rev. English; Henry VIII recognized it to be read aloud at services Arthur Woodnoth in a letter (Oct. 13, 1631) to his cousin, in the Church of England. This, then, was the Bible that Nicholas Ferrar, in which he commented about their mutual Herbert would have known, read, and used for preaching. friend, George Herbert: “Savonarola in Latine he hath of the Beginning in 1662, some 29 years after the poet’s death, the Simplicity of Chr: Religion and is of great esteem with him.” Psalter from the Coverdale or Great Bible was printed in the Woodnoth was Herbert’s dear friend: he was with the poet / Anglican Book of Common Prayer; the Coverdale Psalter also clergyman during the final three weeks of his life and served appeared in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer until as his executor (Yale Studies in English, vol. 127, 1954: 282). 1979. While the King James Version of the Bible appeared in Savonarola’s De Simplicitate Christianae Vitae was originally 1611, Herbert apparently preferred the Coverdale edition, written in Latin. The Italian Dominican friar preached “on the particularly its rendering of the Psalms. simplicity of the Christian life as the highest wisdom” (Edmund G. Gardner, “Savonarola,” in James Hastings, John 7 [my boldface] http://oldebible.com/coverdale-bible/proverbs- Alexnder Selbie, Louis Herbert Gray. Encyclopedia of Relion 2.asp Retrieved 10.14.2019. In the King James Version, and Ethics. NY: Scribner’s: 1921. vol. 11: 215-217). Proverbs 2:12-15 reads (my italics for crooked): “To deliver [https://books.google.com/books?id=Whke9uHJpcwC&prints thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh ec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepag froward things; Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in e&q&f=fal] Retrieved 10.24.2019. the ways of darkness; Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked; Whose ways are crooked, and 10 While “A Wreath” is near the end of The Temple, in they froward in their paths” (froward means perverse, unyielding, disobedient). Herbert’s two earlier “Jordan” poems, the poet concludes by rejecting the “conscious artistry” with which “A Wreathe” 8 The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) cites the usage of abounds (Wilcox: 366). encoiled illustrating the prefix en: “BAILEY Festus (1848) 32/1

Though an ordained United Methodist pastor, Jennifer has spent a lot of time in Episcopal Churches, volunteering at Grace and St. Stephen’s, St. Andrew’s Episcopal in Toledo, Ohio, and Grace Episcopal in Madison, NJ, where her husband, Father Jeremiah, has served. Jennifer has led youth groups at Church Hill United Methodist in Youngstown, Ohio, Ridgewood UMC in New Jersey. and Canfield UMC in Ohio where she was the appointed Associate Pastor. She has also served as pastor of Woodville UMC in Ohio. Jennifer loves building relationships with teens and learning how they view the world. She looks forward to doing great youth ministry through meetings, retreats, lock-ins, fun events, worship and, conversation. Jennifer and Fr. Jeremiah have two children, Oscar and Isaiah.

Epiphany: The Awkward Holiday others to have that experience, too. I also do it because by Pastor Jen Williamson, we all came here because someone risked sharing his Youth Minister, or her faith with s omeone else, someone on the Grace and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church outside. The Epiphany is a story about some of those I put down my forkful of salad and leaned in outsiders. It is the story of how the message of Christ's as the conversation shifted from PTA to church. I birth moved from a poor Jewish family and some listened closely and nodded as she shared that she shepherds to the ends of the earth. The presence of the had grown up Catholic, but she and her wife just magi in our nativity scene reminds us that this is a didn't feel comfortable going to a Catholic Church story meant to be spread far and wide. now. She wanted her son to learn about faith, and Epiphany can be an awkward holiday. Well she wanted to have a church again. before Advent begins, the stores are marketing their There it was … an opening. Every time a Christmas items; the holiday movies are on TV; Santa moment like this comes, I have the thoughts of is receiving wish lists, and everyone is looking for “Don't make it awkward”; “What if she feels weird Christmas music on the radio. But at 12:01 am on around you after this”; “How do you do this in a December 26, it seems that the retail calendar genuine way”; “Don't put pressure on the situation.” Christmas season is over, and the Christmas trees are In most cases I ignore those thoughts and go right on the curb, the lights are coming down, and everyone for the moment of vulnerability and openness: “I is anxious to move on. I always feel a little judged think you might really like my church.” Then, of when people see our decorations still up past New course, I try to fit in everything we do and believe, Year's Day, but it doesn't really make sense to tear why I value it and also service times into a few down the manger before the magi arrive. So we succinct and well-worded sentences. Most people I awkwardly wait, singing carols for the twelve days of invite to church don't actually come, but every now Christmas and standing by for the next part. and then I see them shyly walking in the back, Because the next part is so important: It's the sitting in a pew and trying to figure out what they part where we leave the cozy, candlelit worship are supposed to do. service, the fleece jammies and fireplaces of Inviting other people to church is not the Christmas morning and make things awkward. We easiest thing for me. I usually try my best not to make share what we saw. We remember that this is a people feel uncomfortable and make myself appear holiday for the outsiders. So we go into the cold and non-threatening and likable. For me, and many others help others in need; we comfort the lonely; we tell like me, inviting others to church can be the awkward others about hope, and we do our best with our part of religion. And yet, I do it. I do it because I insufficient words to invite others to worship the God believe so much in Church, and because I have who put a star in the sky so that everyone might hear experienced such an overwhelming, life-changing the good news that God is made manifest abundance of God's grace in churches, and I want

The Rev. Robertson (Rob) Carr Donehue, rector of St. Anne’s Episcopal Church (Lackey chapel at Carolina Coastal University) in Conway, SC, is a native of Charleston. He received his BA from the University of South Carolina and MA in Theology from the University of Durham. He spent five years as a Benedictine Monk at St. Gregory’s [Episcopal] Abbey in Three Rivers, Michigan, before returning to Charleston to serve as the Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministries at Grace Church Episcopal Cathedral. He attended seminary at the Sewanee School of Theology, receiving a Master of Divinity degree in 2016. Rob and his wife were married in January 2015. Father Rob confesses to enjoy wearing fun and colorful socks. Thanks to Father Rob for his kind and timely reply to my request for this sermon. . A Sermon for the First Sunday after the won’t catalogue all of the various answers, but the Epiphany, basic theme that runs throughout is that even “The Baptism of our Lord” though Jesus didn’t need to be baptized, he did so Preached on January 13, 2019 in order to show his solidarity with the people by The Rev. Rob Carr Donehue, whom he came to save; to show that God does not Rector of St. Anne’s Episcopal Church stand removed from human experience but rather (Lackey Chapel at Carolina Coastal University) embraces the fullness of the human condition. Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 And as a result, something amazing I’d like to begin this morning by pointing happens: as the Gospel tells the story, after Jesus to a question that has puzzled Christians for a was baptized, “heaven was opened, and the Holy very long time. The question comes from what we Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a are observing today. Today we are remembering dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are and celebrating the Baptism of our Lord. The my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well baptism of Jesus is the second in a series of pleased.’” There’s something going on here that events that we commemorate during the Epiphany is far more significant than God announcing that season, and it is important because it’s the start of Jesus is special. The significance of this event is Jesus’ public ministry. In all four Gospels, the that WE hear the voice of God. Our human story of Jesus’ public ministry begins with his nature—whatever it is that makes us what we are baptism by John in the river Jordan. So, it makes as humans—is enabled to hear the voice of God, sense that we’d set aside a day to celebrate the saying “‘You are my beloved.’” occasion when Jesus began to teach and do the And that message is the foundation of the hope things that would eventually lead him to the cross. that we proclaim and celebrate at our own But the question that Jesus’ baptism itself raises baptism. is: why was Jesus baptized? And even if we are convinced that we More pointedly, if baptism opens for us don’t deserve to hear God say it, it’s true. We are new life in Christ and forgiveness of sin, then loved. Even if we are afraid that things we’ve why would Christ, himself, whom the church done have put us beyond the pale, the voice of believes is sinless, need to be baptized? Christians God speaks loudly and clearly to us that we are have wrestled with this question for ages, and beloved. And that message breathes life into us there have been all sorts of explanations given. I and fills us with the power of God’s love.

A friend of mine recently told me the story result of our inability to admit the possibility that of one of the most powerful moments in his life. we are lovable. Because the inner torment of He and his wife wanted to have a child, but when believing that we’re not worthy or capable of love they found that they could not have a child of can make us feel like we’re drowning in despair. their own, they decided to adopt. They began And in our despair, we lash out at others in all working with social services, and eventually they sorts of destructive ways. I seriously think that a were matched with a young pregnant woman who profound amount of suffering comes into the was willing to put her baby up for adoption. They world because we don’t believe we are loved. waited eagerly until the day arrived, and when they got the call to go to the hospital, they were That’s why the Gospel message of Jesus at filled with joyful expectation. But when they his baptism, hearing a voice proclaiming, “‘You arrived at the hospital after the baby had been are my beloved,’” is good news for us. born, the doctor met them and told them that there Traditional iconography of Jesus’ baptism shows was some bad news. The baby’s lungs were not him standing in the river Jordan and treading on a fully developed, and it appeared almost certain serpent or dragon. Above him is the image of a that the child would die within days. Given the descending dove. The idea being conveyed in circumstances, the doctor suggested that they call such imagery is that Jesus has gone into the water the social worker to cancel the adoption so that where death and despair have overwhelmed so they wouldn’t have to deal with any of the many; and that the voice of God proclaiming technicalities. But my friend and his wife “You are my beloved,” has triumphed over all of immediately refused. “No,” my friend said, "even the evil that threatens to destroy life by if he dies tomorrow, that is my son.” And when convincing us that we are not loved. The image of they went into the neonatal intensive care unit to the dove reinforces the point: if you remember the see the baby, my friend knelt down next to the story of Noah’s Ark, then you’ll remember that incubator and said to the baby, “You are my son. after the flood, a dove provides the sign that new I love you. No matter what. You are my son. And life has appeared on earth. Just so, the dove you are beloved.” For the next several weeks, this descending upon Jesus is a sign that God’s love was the constant refrain that my friend and his has come to rest upon us. wife spoke to their son as they kept vigil. “You And so today, even though we are are our son. We love you. No matter what. You remembering specifically the baptism of Jesus, are our son. And you are beloved.” And now, the hope is that we will all remember our own nearly five years later, every night before they say baptism. The hope is that we will remember that, goodnight to their healthy son, those are the in baptism, death and despair do not have the words that they use. Because, as my friend put it, final word. The hope is that today will remind us those are the words that give life. all that we, too, were made to hear the voice of I often wonder about how many of us can God saying to us, “‘You are my beloved. With go for years without ever hearing that we are you I am well pleased.’” loved. Or how many of us can go for years thinking that we don’t deserve God’s love; or have somehow squandered the grace that has been given to us. And I am convinced that a tremendous amount of the world’s suffering is the

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Grace – by Ronnie Lee Graham

Grace is just that one thing A push by an unseen. The hinge where life swings. Paced, timed, the in between. Reality meets dreams. Grace is just everything